How do you study a predator with both camouflage and stealth that make it virtually invisible in the forest? Even jaguars poop. A team of researchers led by the University of Cincinnati applied genetic and isotopic analyses to jaguar scat to investigate the habitat needs of the big cats in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Preserve […]
Tag: Panthera onca
Mountain islands: Restoring a transitional cloud forest in Costa Rica
In 2001, South African-born couple, Genevieve and Ian Giddy traveled to Costa Rica to climb Mount Chirripó, one of Central America’s highest peaks, protected within Chirripó National Park. Coming down from the 3,821-meter (12,536-foot) summit, the couple viewed a stark divide between the protected biodiverse high-altitude cloud forest and the deforested cattle pasture and farms […]
Conservationists play matchmaker to boost Argentina’s jaguar gene pool
For about 70 years, jaguars were absent from Iberá Park in northeastern Argentina’s Corrientes province. To rectify this, conservationists reintroduced three jaguars into the park in 2021, followed by seven more. In July 2022, two cubs were born from this reintroduced population. But experts say the key to successfully reinstating the species isn’t just about […]
Population cycles explain white-lipped peccary’s ups and downs, study shows
Scientists say they have solved the mystery behind the periodic disappearance and reappearance of the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) across huge areas of central and South America. A new study suggests that white-lipped peccary populations become so big that they over-shoot their resources, which weakens the animals and makes them more vulnerable to disease and […]
Meet the fishing jaguars that have made this patch of the Pantanal their own
The Taiamã Ecological Station, a small conservation unit that protects a virtually untouched stretch of the Pantanal wetland in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, is home to a peculiar treasure: fishing jaguars (Panthera onca). In a newly published study, a group of international researchers documents that the basic diet of the jaguar population living in this […]
Jaguars in Mexico are growing in number, a promising sign that national conservation strategies are working
The jaguar population in Mexico increased by about 800 animals from 2010 to 2018, according to the first two censuses of the elusive carnivores ever conducted in the country. The news confirms that Mexico’s national strategy to protect jaguars is working, researchers reported recently in the journal PLOS One. “It was incredible to see jaguars […]
Hungry like the maned wolf pup: Clips give rare glimpse of elusive canine
A camera trap in Argentina’s Iberá National Park has revealed rare images of one of the world’s most elusive species: the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus). A series of clips shows three maned wolf cubs playing by themselves outside their den, then nursing and eating regurgitated food provided by their mother, whom researchers have named Preta. […]
Fire and forest loss ignite concern for Brazilian Amazon’s jaguars
In August 2019, an unprecedented number of fires ripped through the Brazilian Amazon, sparking worldwide interest in reports of burning rainforest. In fact, the majority of blazes were on land that had already been stripped of forest. According to a report from the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), at least 1,250 square kilometers […]