As winter closes in across much of North America, migratory birds are heading south to warmer climes and more abundant food. But until recently, scientists didn’t have a good understanding of exactly where they went. Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology U.S. analyzed observations from eBird, a global […]
Tag: jaguars
In Brazil’s Pantanal, too many tourists may be the jaguar’s new predator
PORTO JOFRE, Brazil — When Oscar de Morais isn’t out tracking jaguars, you’ll find him aboard his houseboat moored along the banks of the São Lourenço River. He sits beneath a mosquito net on two stacked blue plastic chairs, watching Brazilian soap operas while a fan blows warm air his way. That is, until someone […]
‘We’re winning a battle’: Mexico’s jaguar numbers up 30% in conservation drive
In 2010, Gerardo Ceballos and a group of other researchers set out to answer a burning question: how many jaguars were there in Mexico? They knew there weren’t many. Hunting, loss of habitat, conflict with cattle ranchers and other issues had pushed the population to the brink of extinction. Ceballos and his team from the […]
How Close Are Manatees to Extinction?
The Indian River Lagoon, a long braid of brackish mangroves and shifting islands, runs along Florida’s Atlantic coast. It is home to 4,300 species, including many of the state’s remaining manatees, whose large, paddle-tailed bodies graze slowly through the shallows. For decades, the lagoon has also been a destination for Florida’s municipal sewage. State law […]
Jaguar cub born in Argentina’s Gran Chaco after three decades
A 5-month-old jaguar cub has been spotted along the Bermejo River in northern Argentina‘s Gran Chaco region — the first wild-born cub in the region following a rewilding program at El Impenetrable National Park led by conservation nonprofit Rewilding Argentina. Researchers had suspected a birth several months prior, finding paw prints and other indirect signs, […]
A deadly parasite turns jaguar conservation into a human health priority
In Brazil‘s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, Paul Raad crouched in the undergrowth, scanning the ground for signs of jaguar activity. He wasn’t looking for the big cats themselves; instead, the veterinarian from São Paulo State University (UNESP) was searching for fresh jaguar feces. Spotting a recent sample, Raad carefully collected it, stored it […]
Jaguar tracks still stained with blood in Bolivia
On one Saturday in August 2023, news of a jaguar (Panthera onca) death shook the small streets of the Amazonian town of Ixiamas in Bolivia. It was all community members were talking about, after having found the animal’s carcass on the side of a dirt road leading to the community of Santa Fe. The jaguar’s […]
Inbreeding adds to growing threats to Africa’s smallest wildcat, study finds
Populations of the black-footed cat, a little-known feline in Southern Africa, have been declining for the last half a million years and exhibit very high degrees of inbreeding. This could increase their risk of a disease called amyloidosis, according to a new genetic study. “Frequently genomic studies focus on large charismatic cats so that small […]