• home:
• Fauna & Flora International in the U.S.:
• contact us

• Print this page
• Email this page

Jaguar conservation in the Americas

The strikingly patterned jaguar Panthera onca, the largest cat in the western hemisphere, has iconic significance for many indigenous cultures in Central and South America. But it is under increasing threat from humans through habitat destruction, hunting and depletion of prey populations.

Very little is known about its numbers across key parts of its range. Increased knowledge of jaguar ecology and interactions with people that share their habitat will enable us to address the threats to the species.

In order to help conserve this species, we need to improve our knowledge of jaguar populations and their interactions with nearby human communities. The jaguar is a vital ‘flagship’ species. Protecting it will also help to conserve the other felids - from pumas to oncillas - that share its range.

Fauna & Flora International is working on two important jaguar projects:

The Golden Stream Corridor Preserve, purchased with a grant from the Arcadia Fund in 1999, contains Belize’s last remaining lowland tropical broadleaf forest ecosystem, running unbroken from the mountains to the coast. This is part of what may be one of the few viable jaguar habitats in Central America – the Selva Maya, and an area where indigenous Maya people still have strong cultural associations with the jaguar. We are:

• Estimating populations of jaguars and their prey in the preserve;
• Monitoring the recovery of jaguars, jaguar prey and their forest habitat in the wake of Hurricane Iris;
• Extending and adapting our existing education and outreach programme in light of local communities’ changing activities and attitudes;
• Sharing monitoring data.

Cristalino State Park, which Fauna & Flora International helped to conserve through an emergency purchase, is one of the most biologically diverse, but threatened parks in the whole of the Brazilian Amazon. It is also a vital jaguar refuge. Fear of big cats, or simply the excitement of hunting a large predator, may be the main driving force behind human persecution of jaguars. In order to conserve the species in this area, Fauna & Flora International is:

• Monitoring the potentially high density of jaguars in Cristalino;
• Evaluating the role of social and cultural factors in human-jaguar conflicts;
• Using the data to design the best social marketing techniques to change negative perceptions;
• Delivering this to local communities via our local partner, the Cristalino Ecological Foundation, and its existing Escola da Amazônia programme, and working to influence state government policy.