Save the Jaguar

The jaguar once ranged from Arizona to argentina. Slaughter for its pelt and loss of habitat have reduced its nubers, although it is now protected by law in many countries.

Habitat destruction

Every year vast areas of South American rainforest are de-stroyed. Trees are felled for timber, and undergrowth is burned to make way for roads, human settlements, cattle ranching, and heavy industry such as mining. The environmental group Friends of the Earth estimates that during a burning season an area of Brazilian rainforest the size of a football field is de-stroyed every second.

Land clearance also destroys the homes and traditional life of native forest people, and it often leads to serious mud-slides and flooding.

As the rainforests shrink many natural species are un-able to adapt to a new habitat and are vanishing at a rapid rate.

Lifestyle

The jaguar is a large cat with a yellow or deep tawny coat patterned with large dark ro-settes and spots. Black jaguars also occur occasionally. Eight recorded subspecies of jaguar exist; the smallest is Pant hera onca goldmani found only in Yucatan, Mexico.

The jaguar’s territory is mainly on the fringe of forests. Its hunting grounds in-clude land around rivers and lakes. Active at night, the jaguar preys on deer, small ground-dwelling rodents, tapirs, monkeys, and capy-baras. It also eats birds, turtles, fish, lizards, and domestic stock such as cattle.

The jaguar is now rare in the wild, and most of the 300 jaguars in zoos have been born in captivity.

What threats face the jaguar?

The jaguar is at the top of the rainforest food chain. Its habi-tat destruction means the loss of its hunting grounds and of its prey species as well.

Hunting by man, whether for sport or to protect cattle herds, is also a threat to the species’ survival. Another threat comes from native populations who settle in newly cleared areas and set traps to catch animals for food. Many rare and pro-tected species die this way.

Conservation measures

The main jaguar population lives in the upper basin of the Orinoco River in Venezuela and numbers about 3,000. The jaguar is a fertile species. If conditions are favorable, a local colony can quickly re-verse losses due to hunting and trapping.

Jaguars are still killed in great numbers, often by cattle ranchers protecting their stock and by wealthy tourists for sport.

In 1973 the jaguar was listed in the high risk appen-dix of The Convention on International Trade of Endan-gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

In spite of its severely reduced population, the jaguar is still classified as a “vulner-able” rather than an “endan-gered” species.

Decreasing fur demand

The jaguar’s distinctive fur has long been sought by hunters and fashion designers. In 1968 the annual consumption of jaguar pelts was estimated at 39,000 worldwide, with over 1 3,000 skins auctioned during that year in the United States alone. Increased awareness and public sentiment against wearing fur have greatly reduced the price of the jaguar’s pelt.

Reserves

Several South American coun-tries are now planning to protect some of the jaguar’s rainforest habitats.

But many existing wildlife parks are too small, since an adult jaguar needs about 40 square miles for its territory. In spite of the international ban on commercial trade, furs are still exported illegally. The entire cat population from a small reserve can be wiped out by poachers.

The large national parks are more successful, such as Manu in Peru and jau in Bra-zil. The smaller Cockscomb Forest Jaguar Preserve in Belize is home for up to 50 cats. This reserve attracts over 8,000 visitors a year and is the source of much mod-ern research on the jaguar.