Jaguar Conservation Program

INTERNATIONAL JAGUAR CONSERVATION PROGRAM CONSERVATION Highlights Total Area • 323 mi2 • 520 km2 Habitat Types • lowland tropical moist Jaguar in Belize forest Jaguar Track The Jaguar Conservation Program is one component of the Global Carnivore Program Wildlife Present Measurements in Belize Birds • ocelated turkey Jaguars and Peccaries in Corcovado National Park, WCS in Belize • white-whiskered Costa Rica The Gallon Jug Estate in northwestern Belize, lies in puffbird • purple-crowned fairy the heart of the Maya Forest shared by Belize, Monitoring Jaguars in the • ornate hawk-eagle Cockscomb Basin, Belize Guatemala, and Mexico. Buffered on all sides by extensive tropical forest, Gallon Jug Estate is Mammals Movements, Habitat and uniquely well protected from hunting and human • jaguar Prey Relations of Jaguars settlement pressures. Its conspicuous wildlife, • puma in SE Sonora, Mexico • ocelot including the jaguar, makes it an ideal field research • margay Jaguar-Livestock Conflict test site. Remote camera-trap studies have in NE Sonora, Mexico • jaguarundi been ongoing for more than a decade here. • brocket deer Subsistence Hunting in the • white-tailed deer Maya Biosphere • black howler monkey Reserve, Guatemala The Human Aspect • white-lipped peccary In 1999, WCS and Jaguar Cars sponsored an Jaguar and Prey Monitoring international meeting that convened experts from Plants in Belize • give-and-take palm across the range of the jaguar. This group resolved • passionflowers Borderlands Jaguar to develop techniques to monitor jaguar populations • sensitive plant Detection, Mexico/U.S. since they are not easily surveyed. Such techniques Livestock Depredation in are necessary in order to implement appropriate WCS Involvement the Pantanal, Brazil conservation actions. In northwestern Belize, jaguars • since 1980 are unhunted and appear to be relatively common. Impact of Jaguars at the Rio Platano Biosphere The Gallon Jug Estate offers excellent opportunities Beliz Reserve, Honduras to develop and test innovative new techniques. Mexico Caribbean Sea Jaguar and their Prey, Guatemala Threats • Belize Throughout its range, jaguars are most threatened Human-Jaguar Conflict, Belize by habitat loss and hunting of prey species as well Guatemala as hunting of jaguars themselves. This holds true for Community Outreach and much of Belize and the Maya Forest, or La Selva Education, U.S. Maya. However, Gallon Jug provides strong Jaguars on Private Lands, protection areas and functions as a “wildlife Pacific Ocean Venezuela factory” to allow dispersal of wildlife including Rancher Outreach jaguars throughout La Selva Maya region. Program, Brazil Jaguars are secretive, intelligent, and elusive animals making them challenging to survey or monitor. Contacts Carolyn M. Miller Associate Conservation Zoologist Email: [email protected] Phone: 501.220.9002 Kathleen Conforti Program Manager Science and Exploration Jaguar tracks Email: [email protected] Habitat loss and subsequent fragmentation from proposed road Phone: 718.220.2189 development schemes is a major concern. For more information: www.savethejaguar.com WCS Activities www.savingwildplaces.com Jaguars are secretive, intelligent, and elusive animals making them Wildlife Conservation Society challenging to survey or monitor. Direct methods, such as simply counting International Conservation them, do not work. However jaguars do leave tracks. The development of a 2300 Southern Blvd. method to determine individual identity from tracks is underway. A Bronx, N.Y. 10460 USA software-assisted technique to measure tracks has shown promising results www.wcs.org in differentiating individual jaguars and pumas by an extensive series of Photography: foot measurements. Although the actual measurement technique is highly Page 1: C.Miller©WCS sophiscated and employs recent technology, the actual data collection in the Page 2: C.Miller©WCS field is easily accomplished by simply photographing the tracks. When perfected, this method may offer another tool for researchers to assist in Mission determining where jaguars are and what their status is. Where jaguars are The Wildlife Conservation and aren’t will be important when formulating conservation actions for Society’s International Conservation program saves monitoring efforts. wildlife and wild lands by understanding and resolving Important Next Steps critical problems that threaten key species and large, wild · Finalize the technique with custom written software. ecosystems around the world. · Distribute the entire survey “package” to researchers interested in employing it at their own field sites. WCS Strategies · Act as a clearinghouse for incoming data. • Site-based conservation · Troubleshoot, fine tune, and test robustness of the technique. • Research · Implement range wide jaguar surveys employing this method where • Training and capacity- building appropriate. • New model development • Informing policy • Linking zoo-based and field-based conservation wcs .

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