| Until aggressive
hunting jaguars for sport and fur decimated their numbers
in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, jaguars were
fairly common and widespread in tropical regions of the
New World. They also thrived in ecosystems as varied as
desert mountains, pine forests, swamps, and grasslands.
Remarkably, the cats adapted to high-altitude spruce and
fir as well as lowland cacti and thornscrub. Yet jaguars
are so shy and secretive, roaming mainly in night or twilight
hours, that researchers can only guess how many remain in
the wild. The 'all black' (melanistic) jaguar, which accounts
for about six percent of all specimens, is even harder to
see.
Experts estimate between 8,000 and 16,000 wild jaguars
are left, occurring in less than two-thirds of their original
territory over a broad but fragmented swath from southern
Arizona and New Mexico to northern Argentina. Less than
500 are held by zoos worldwide; very few are kept as pets
or circus performers.
An endangered species, jaguar numbers appear to be in steady
decline, though they may be holding their own in the densest
jungles of Amazonia. Habitat destruction, forest disintegration,
prey loss, and poaching are the main threats to survival
of this animal, which requires vast tracts of undeveloped
land and plenty of wild game. An opportunistic hunter, the
jaguar's diet includes almost anything that moves, with
a preference for deer, peccaries, capybaras, coati, armadillo,
snakes, birds, and small mammals. Where available, the cat
will happily consume turtles and fish as well as domestic
pets and any kind of livestock.
Under the 1975 international CITES agreement, all trade
in non-vintage jaguar products is banned, putting an end
to the wholesale slaughter of these and other exotic cats
for the manufacture of fancy rugs and women's luxury clothing.
A thriving black market for pelts still exists, however,
and wildlife protection laws are largely unenforced south
of the U.S. border. Only a few countries allow any form
of legal jaguar hunting.
Enlightened conservation and environmental education programs
are making headway in several nations, notably Mexico, Belize,
Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Brazil. Nevertheless, top wildlife
biologists believe time is of the essence in saving the
wild jaguar. They are working simultaneously to curb indiscriminate
poaching, preserve key habitat, and to establish travel
routes between protected areas. The latter is thought necessary
to protect the genetic strength and diversity of Panthera
onca, inasmuch as the species occurs in low densities even
under ideal conditions.
The jaguar population within Brazil is thought to remain
substantial, while for several other nations it may be painfully
low. Fewer than 300 jaguars are said to persist in Argentina,
South America's second-largest country. In the former wildlife
stronghold of Guatemala, one well-informed resident scientist
told me, "There may be 40 jaguars, there may be 400;
no one knows." The total for all of Mexico -- once
a bastion for Panthera onca in many rural areas from Sonora
to Chiapas -- could be far fewer than the 2,000 cats projected
in 2007 by one prominent (and optimistic) Mexican ecologist.
Jaguars would likely be in worse trouble were it not for
the effective predatory strategies they have honed over
millennia. A meat-eating animal this large requires many
calories simply to survive and thus must calculate carefully
how much energy will be spent tracking and killing prey.
Using its great skill and sharp senses, the cat relies heavily
on the ambush technique. Deer, peccaries, and tapirs are
sensible choices inasmuch as the meat of a single animal
can sustain a jaguar for days.
The cats tend to develop specific hunting circuits, frequently
following existing trails -- or backcountry roads, if available
-- with all sensory input attuned to the surroundings. While
searching for a meal, a jaguar's eyes are wide open, aware
of any movement. Hair-trigger hearing is attentive to the
slightest unexpected noise. The cat's sense of smell is
tuned to tiny nuances of odor in soil, foliage, or air.
If it finds no opportunities on its usual rounds, a jaguar
may hide in thick brush and position itself to carry out
a surprise attack, crushing a victim'sskull with its powerful
jaws. Ideally, it will be on the lookout for an isolated
individual, a sub-adult, or in the case of a herd animal,
a straggler left behind by disease, old age, or injury.
Because a jaguar is not particularly fast or graceful on
its feet, staying hidden and quiet is essential.
"In sum," concluded New York Times science reporter
Natalie Angier in a 2003 report, "the jaguar has evolved
a two-pronged approach to fetching dinner -- stay virtually
invisible to the last possible moment and then deliver an
overwhelming blow."
A jaguar has few natural enemies outside its own kind and
will even sleep soundly in the open. But there are limits
to its complacency. If a male encounters a fellow jaguar,
particularly another male, it may attack in order to acquire
or defend a territory. The cat is generally reluctant to
pick such fights, since even small injuries in the tropics
can quickly become infected, leading to a slow, agonizing
death. The loss of a tooth or eye also may portend an early
demise.
A handful of jungle animals -- including the white-lipped
peccary, crocodile, giant anteater, and anaconda -- are
known to be physically aggressive toward jaguars and occasionally
succeed in killing them. But this cat is not a man-eater;
there are virtually no documented accounts of wild jaguars
making unprovoked attacks on humans. Once in a great while,
one fatally mauls an inattentive zookeeper or provocative
hunter.
It is impossible to guarantee anyone a glimpse of a wild
jaguar, though there are a few places in Central and South
America where the odds are slightly better.
For determined ecotourists, the best potential sighting
locales include Belize's Cockscomb
Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Chan
Chich Lodge, Mexico's Calakmul
Biosphere Reserve, Costa Rica's Corcovado
National Park and various ecotourism resorts in Brazil's
Pantanal
region.
Buena suerte!
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