A recent undercover investigation by World Animal Protection revealed that over 200 species from the Amazon rainforest are being sold at a market in Peru. All kinds of animals, in varying degrees of neglect, were found there, including dolphins, sloths, manatees, jaguars, turtles, and primates. Many of the animals were being sold to be used […]
Tag: jaguars
How did America end up with the world’s largest tiger population?
The first red flag was the shiny Chevy Camaro with no license plate. “Anything to declare?” asked the US Customs and Border Protection officer. “Nothing,” replied the 18-year-old driver, Luis Eudoro Valencia, a native of the tiny desert town of Perris, California. It was 1.30am on 23 August 2017, at the Otay Mesa port of […]
Is it time to rethink jaguar recovery in the U.S.? (commentary)
Scientists have come to a surprising conclusion about jaguars. Lands in central Arizona and New Mexico provide a huge potential for jaguar habitat and recovery. This rugged landscape – stretching as far north as the Grand Canyon – contains vast expanses of evergreen, deciduous and mixed forests, and an abundance of whitetail deer, one of […]
Loss of forests turns up the heat, literally, on giant anteaters
Giant anteaters are native to the savannas of Central and South America. They forage in the open spaces of the mosaic of forests, grasslands and wetlands, and rest in the more sheltered and covered habitats. That latter part is important: A recently published study shows that giant anteaters are relatively poor regulators of their own […]
Huge wildlife corridor in Belize sees progress, boosting hope for jaguars and more (commentary)
I was quite thrilled reading Jut Wynne’s commentary on the Maya Forest Corridor (MFC) published by Mongabay on May 24th of this year. Jut described the critical importance of the MFC being the missing link connecting the Belize Maya Forest to the Maya Mountain Massif. Being an ecologist and environmentalist, I find any news of […]
Finding fangs: new film exposes illicit trade killing off Bolivia’s iconic jaguar
Elizabeth Unger was a 25-year-old biology graduate working as a PhD research assistant for big cat and climate projects in Latin America when she heard about the Bolivian authorities intercepting dozens of packages containing jaguar fangs sent by Chinese citizens to addresses in China. “I was really blown away as [the story] was completely under […]
In Colombia, a successful jaguar conservation program has a whiff of coffee
Fires had a devastating effect in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in Colombia’s Caribbean region, between 2012 and 2013. In 2013 alone, the region lost an estimated that 22,000 hectares (54,400 acres) of forest, mainly due to fires, according to CORPAMAG, the environmental authority for the department of Magdalena. At almost the same time, […]
Electronic ears listen to poachers in a key Central American jaguar habitat
A gunshot explodes through the rainforest, followed by what sounds like branches falling from a tree. A dog barks. “Tito, did I hit it?” a man asks his companion in Spanish. “Oh yes, I did hit it. Look, there is blood dripping. I shot it from over there.” These sounds were recorded on an […]