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<\/a>Elusive daytime hunter<\/h2>\n
Like most small cats, the jaguarundi blends in well with its wild surroundings. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, its coat can be plain chocolate brown, silvery tan, russet red \u2014 or somewhere in between \u2014 with different color morphs even found in the same litter. It\u2019s relatively slight of build, with an elongated body that\u2019s sinewy and low to the ground, allowing it to move through dense underbrush. Unlike most felids, it\u2019s most active during daylight.<\/p>\n
These adaptations have allowed the jaguarundi to carve out a unique niche, living among, but avoiding, other physically stronger predators, Giordano says. It\u2019s a strategy that works well; the jaguarundi is the most widely distributed Latin American small cat, and of all neotropical cats, is second in distribution only to the puma (Puma concolor), its closest relative.<\/p>\n
Despite being more regularly sighted than some of the nocturnal cats, and sparking the curiosity of many cat researchers, the jaguarundi remains among the world\u2019s least studied wildcats, for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n
First, it\u2019s notoriously difficult to trap, making satellite- or radio-collaring studies impractical. Caso says it took him more than a year to trap the first two jaguarundi for his radio-collar research in Tamaulipes, Mexico.<\/p>\n
Second, because the jaguarundi has a plain coat without markings, researchers can\u2019t easily identify individuals, making density estimates using camera trapping more difficult and much less accurate.<\/p>\n
Finally, the species\u2019 conservation status is currently classified as being of least concern by the IUCN (though an updated assessment is currently underway). So when it comes to funding, the species ranks far below its more threatened peers.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be clear, you will never convince anyone to give you money to study the jaguarundi,\u201d Giordano says.<\/p>\n Like many biologists, Bart Harmsen came to Latin America to study jaguars (Panthera onca), but he soon also became smitten by the odd-looking little cat he sometimes glimpsed during the day.<\/p>\n \u201cI can still remember seeing one crossing a highway in Belize,\u201d Harmsen recalls. The jaguarundi jumped down off the bank, bounded over the road in a single giant leap, then disappeared into the forest on the other side.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s just sort of like these flashes!\u201d says Harmsen, his hands tracing arcs in the air. \u201cThey\u2019re just these unknown fascinating cats.\u201d Now director of the Belize program for the wildcat NGO Panthera, Harmsen has been working on large and small cat conservation for more than 20 years, and he\u2019s still fascinated.<\/p>\n While his research focuses on larger felid species, he\u2019s always kept an eye out for the jaguarundi. But while his camera traps were picking up jaguars, pumas, margays (Leopardus wiedii), ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) and other species, the jaguarundi remained rare. The same thing was happening to other scientists. \u201cYou talk to any researcher, they always say \u2018jaguarundis, of all the carnivores, they\u2019re always my lowest one, just get a few [photo] captures,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Harmsen became convinced that was because they were scarce almost everywhere. But with relatively few camera-trapping records from Panthera\u2019s Belize study sites, he didn\u2019t have enough data points to understand fully what was going on. \u201cSo, I always had this thought, like, at one point, everybody needs to get their three captures in one bucket, so that we can say something [conclusive],\u201d he remembers.<\/p>\n His interest in the jaguarundi bloomed into a major collaborative effort, with the contribution of sightings coming from a variety of researchers at 17 institutions working in 13 countries. They put together 884 records of jaguarundis from nearly 4,000 cameras at more than 650 sites. Harmsen and colleagues then poured that data into modeling software and looked at the results.<\/p>\n The study, published in Diversity and Distributions in April, showed that the jaguarundi was more likely to be found in rugged terrain with shrubby vegetation or close to rural areas near people, and in places where rainfall and daily temperatures were more constant.<\/p>\n Using these variables, the scientist developed a predictive map, showing the probability of the jaguarundi occurring across Latin America. For example, most of Central America, the northern Andes and parts of Paraguay were predicted to have a higher chance of having jaguarundis. On the other hand, large swaths of the Amazonian lowlands and the central Andes had a low probability of being occupied by the species. From this predictive map, the researchers were able to come up with a crude population estimate, totaling between 35,000 and 230,000 individuals across their range. Spread out over nearly all of Latin America, that isn\u2019t so many.<\/p>\n Harmsen says the modeling work was challenging, partly because the jaguarundi appears to be a generalist and doesn\u2019t reveal a strong preference for any specific habitat variables.<\/p>\n Still, Harmsen suggests that the new research is an important first step toward getting to know the jaguarundi, providing an initial indication of its distribution and approximate population size, all of which can be refined as more data become available.<\/p>\n Camera trapping is now a standard tool for researching threatened species like jaguars \u2014 but camera traps also capture images of many other species not targeted by those studies, generating what\u2019s called \u201cbycatch\u201d data.<\/p>\n This bycatch data can be hard for researchers to utilize. First, a single study may not have enough data points to draw conclusion, as already noted. Second, for lower-profile species that aren\u2019t threatened, researchers may not have the time or funding to do the analysis. This means that bycatch data often ends up sitting on a virtual shelf collecting dust.<\/p>\n But, as this new study shows, when numerous researchers pool those meager data points, very useful findings can arise. Harmsen says the jaguarundi, a much loved but not widely known cat that isn\u2019t on any funder\u2019s list, was the perfect species to chart the way.<\/p>\n He says he hopes the success achieved by his team\u2019s novel collaborative approach to studying the jaguarundi will serve as an example for scientists needing to stretch limited research dollars to learn more about other less charismatic species.<\/p>\n The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the world\u2019s most complete source of information on the conservation status of animals, plants and fungi. Experts evaluate each species using criteria such as population size and trends, distribution, threats and more, then assign a global status ranging from least concern to endangered to extinct.<\/p>\n The IUCN aims to update each species\u2019 status at least every 10 years. Assessments are done by a core team of invited experts, and can take between one and two years to complete, writes Tabea Lanz, Red List Authority coordinator for the IUCN\u2019s Cat Specialist Group.<\/p>\n The jaguarundi is one species whose status is currently undergoing an IUCN reassessment. But as already noted, the task of researching lesser-known, elusive, wide-ranging species can be daunting. So the assessment team is trying out new cooperative approaches to evaluating this little cat. To get around some of the data collection difficulties, the assessment team developed a participatory approach that casts a wide net in search of information.<\/p>\n That includes sending out a Google Forms questionnaire to a wide network of researchers, government institutions and NGOs, while also designing social media posts in three languages that can be shared easily.<\/p>\n This approach helped the assessment team collect diverse perspectives \u2014 some importantly from outside the Global North \u2014 says assessment team member Mariam Weston-Flores, coordinator of the Ocelot Working Group.<\/p>\n In the end, 69 individuals and organizations from 18 countries answered the jaguarundi questionnaire and sent in contributions; a stunning 70% of the data collected were from previously unpublished sources.<\/p>\n Weston-Flores says it was heartening to see how enthusiastically the research community responded.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople really trusted us, they sent their recordings, even their thesis materials,\u201d Weston-Flores says. \u201cYou cannot assess something if you don\u2019t have the data, so it was a good way to grab that data.\u201d<\/p>\n The results of the latest IUCN assessment won\u2019t be out until later this year, but Tadeu de Oliveira, a professor at Maranh\u00e3o State University in Brazil and co-founder of the Wild Cats Americas Conservation Project, says that the jaguarundi faces multiple threats. He calls the species the \u201cneglected kid in the family,\u201d and emphasizes that it deserves urgent attention.<\/p>\n De Oliveira, whose research focuses on small cats, is particularly concerned about what he calls the \u201cinvisible threat\u201d of disease transmission from domestic dogs.<\/p>\n In his study sites across the Amazon and the semiarid Caatinga, he has observed large numbers of domestic and feral dogs using the same areas as wild felids, including the jaguarundi.<\/p>\n De Oliveira saw a high prevalence of neurological signs of canine distemper virus among dogs near Mirador State Park, Brazil, and concluded that disease is one of the primary threats to the northern tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus). He says it\u2019s likely the jaguarundi is being similarly affected.<\/p>\n Cats are opportunistic predators, and for many the sight of a coop full of chickens is a hard-to-resist temptation. But unlike other predators that sneak in under the cover of darkness, the jaguarundi hunts during the day. So it\u2019s more likely to get caught, says Jos\u00e9 Daniel Ram\u00edrez-Fern\u00e1ndez, formerly the oncilla conservation coordinator with the Costa Rica Wildlife Foundation. That leads to conflict problems.<\/p>\n In some places, people kill the jaguarundi in retaliation; or, because many Costa Ricans are conservation minded, they may instead give up keeping chickens altogether, forgoing on an important nutrition source, says Ram\u00edrez-Fern\u00e1ndez. Neither outcome is ideal, so he and his colleagues are working with local communities to install predator-proof chicken coops.<\/p>\n Weston-Flores is involved with similar programs in Mexico, and says that finding solutions to chicken predation, no matter what the cause, benefits a range of species and improves people\u2019s attitudes toward wildlife.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to attend the issue, right? It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s \u2026 a raccoon or a wildcat,\u201d she says. \u201cThe solution is building trust, so you can modify [people\u2019s] behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n Like species the world over, the jaguarundi is threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation. But unlike flagship species such as the jaguar, the jaguarundi doesn\u2019t necessarily need large areas of pristine habitat to thrive.<\/p>\n Though it needs natural habitat, H. yagouaroundi also seems to have found a place at the margins, hunting for rodents, birds or reptiles at the forest edge, or in the patchwork of forest, dense undergrowth and small fields where wildlands and human settlements meet.<\/p>\n But as small farms are swallowed up by larger farms or by industrial agriculture, that \u201cmessy kind of mosaic\u201d is being lost, Harmsen says.<\/p>\n Experts are concerned that umbrella species like the jaguar (a charismatic big cat that confers protection on other species via its similar habitat requirements) may not be adequately sheltering the jaguarundi across all of its range. That\u2019s because jaguarundi conservation likely requires protection outside of preserves, in areas that aren\u2019t a high conservation priority.<\/p>\nNew ways to study<\/h2>\n
Utilizing camera trap \u2018bycatch\u2019<\/h2>\n
Throwing a wide net for data<\/h2>\n
The invisible threat<\/h2>\n
Chicken killers<\/h2>\n
A species beyond the conservation umbrella<\/h2>\n