Jaguar

Only 1,200 jaguars remain in Mirador National Park, Guatemala, one of the species' strongholds. The jaguar is the largest feline in the Americas, a valuable component of the ecosystem as a top predator and an iconic symbol of South American culture.

Common Name:

Jaguar

Scientific Name:

Panthera onca

IUCN Red List Status:

Near Threatened

Guatemala Red List Status:

Endangered

Weight: 

Up to 96 kg (212 lb), with large regional variations

Size:

Up to 1.85 m (6 ft) long, with large regional variations

Habitats:

Inhabits a variety of forested and open terrains, but prefers tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest, wetlands and wooded regions

Threats:

Illegal hunting and change of land use for agricultural activities

Continent:

The Americas

GC Sites:

Mirador National Park, Guatemala

Calakmul World Heritage Site, Mexico

Partners:

FundaEco, Centro de Estudios Conservacionistas of the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (CECON-USAC), Friends of Calakmul

Global Population:

An estimated 64,000; 57,000 of which are in the Amazon Basin (de la Torre et al. 2017)

Population in Mirador National Park, Guatemala:

1,200

Jaguar historic range (pink) and current range (red). Courtesy IUCN

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The jaguar is the largest feline in the Americas. It is a valuable component of the ecosystem as a top predator, as well as an iconic symbol of South American culture.

Jaguars have a powerful bite, the third largest in the cat family after tigers and lions. This bite force allows them to pierce the shells of turtles and tortoises, and to kill larger prey like deer and caimans by piercing the skull.

Did you know? The word 'jaguar' comes from the indigenous word 'yaguar', which means 'he who kills with one leap'.

The jaguar has played a critical cultural role among early peoples of the Americas. In pre-Columbian times, the jaguar was a symbol of power and strength, with some people dressing inn jaguar skins during religious rituals.

In the Maya civilization, the jaguar was thought to facilitate communication between the living and the dead. The spirit of the jaguar was believed to protect the royal household, and Mayans may even have kept jaguars as pets.

Jaguars currently range from northern Mexico to northern Argentina. In the 19th century, jaguars occurred as far north as Colorado, and were even sighted in Monterey, California. Though they are now considered extirpated from the United States, one individual was spotted multiple times in Arizona between 2012 and 2015.

Unfortunately, jaguars have faced major population loss over the years. This is mainly attributed to habitat conversions to agricultural land, habitat/population fragmentation, loss of prey base, and illegal poaching.

As jaguars prefer dense, undisturbed forests away from human settlements and roads, the amount of suitable habitat is in steep decline.

Did you know? A pair of jaguars may mate up to 100 times a day during the breeding period.

Threats

Jaguars were very abundant as recently as the 20th century. However, large-scale commercial hunting for their skin for the fashion industry caused a massive population decline. In the 1960's, more than 15,000 jaguars were killed annually for their skins in the Brazilian Amazon alone.

Additionally, large regions were deforested for agriculture and cattle grazing, furthering their decline. Currently, it is estimated that they have been extirpated from around 55% of their historical range. Legal trade was banned in the 1970s, allowing some populations to recover, but most populations remain endangered or critically endangered.

Jaguars are listed as Near Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and appear in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). They are protected by law throughout their range.

Now, the main threat to jaguars is habitat loss, as well as the illegal trade of bones and teeth, which are exported to China and sold as traditional medicine. There are many organizations working on protection of jaguars at local and national levels, such as Mexico’s National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation and the Mexican government.

Did you know? Jaguars can be “melanistic", where they appear almost black. Melanistic jaguars (and leopards) are known as “black panthers”.

Conservation Action

The Maya Forest is the largest continuous tropical forest in the Mesoamerican region and is one of the most important areas for the conservation of biological diversity on a global level. The Calakmul – Mirador portion of the Maya Forest in the Mexico – Guatemala border maintains the largest jaguar population north of the Orinoco river. The Mirador area is home to 90% of Guatemala's remaining jaguar population, and contains six kinds of tropical forest, 300 tree species, 200 animal species, and five of the six cats indigenous to Central America.

Large populations of elusive jaguar and threatened white-lipped peccary live here, alongside pumas, tapirs, ocelots, agoutis, brocket deer, and rare harpy eagles. Mirador's southern limestone cliffs are the last place in the world with viable populations of the orange-breasted falcon. Mirador is also on a critical flyway for birds migrating from central and eastern North America.

Its long-term survival depends on organizations such as our partners, Global Conservation (US), the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation and the Institute of Ecology of the National University of Mexico. Central America has experienced extreme habitat loss in the last decade, leaving Mirador National Park to be the last jaguar habitat in the region. Fortunately, Mirador National Park is very well preserved and is a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site that Global Conservation is monitoring.

The jaguar's long-term survival depends on organizations such as our partners, the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation and the Institute of Ecology of the National University of Mexico. Central America has experienced extreme habitat loss in the last decade, leaving Mirador National Park to be the last jaguar habitat in the region. Fortunately, Mirador National Park is very well preserved and is a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site that Global Conservation is monitoring.

At 21,000 square kilometers (more than 8,000 square miles), the Maya Biosphere Reserve covers 19 percent of Guatemala and is one of the few large forests remaining in Central America as deforestation in the region has spread.

Global Conservation is protecting Mirador National Park and is supporting science to study and monitor its jaguar populations using camera traps. In fact, we recently funded a 3-year scientific baseline population study for jaguar and prey in Mirador National Park, Guatemala and Calakmul World Heritage Park, Mexico. This study found a jaguar density of 7 individuals per square kilometer, for an estimated total of 610 jaguars in both protected areas combined.  

Continued monitoring is essential to assess the abundance of the species throughout this ecosystem and to understand their responses to habitat modifications.

Objectives

• To establish permanent legal protection for the naturaland archaeological heritage of Mirador National Park.

• To assist the Guatemalan government in securing UNESCO World Heritage designation for Mirador.

• To negotiate trade-offs with stakeholders that will determine which lands will be integrated into the new, larger national park.

• To secure larger international support and achieve an economically sustainable protected area within the next ten years.

Additionally, we support Mexico’s National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation and the Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation of Wildlife (National University of Mexico), which work in the Calakmul region to protect more than 100,000 hectares of its habitat.

Goals of the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation

• To develop projects that are focused on generating information that contribute to the conservation of the jaguar, its prey and its habitat.

• To contribute to the creation of strategies that establish the necessary links between organizations to guarantee the conservation of the jaguar.

• To establish a coordinated work agenda between ecological, political, economic and social entities to direct joint efforts towards the conservation of the jaguar and its habitat.

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