In the deep reaches of the part of the Sonoran Desert that extends into Southern Arizona and New Mexico's Bootheel, there is an exotic and rare mixture of wildlife not found anywhere else in these United States. Among the animals that live in this region are the Coatimundi, Mexican Gray Wolf, Ocelot, Mexican Bobcat, and the Jaguar. But, you say, I thought jaguars only live in Central and South America. They do, indeed, and yet they are also denizens of the American Southwest. Legends of the big cat are told by Indigenous Peoples of the Mexican/US Border area along Arizona and New Mexico. They were considered sacred by Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.
Jaguars (Panthera onca) are the third largest big cat, with only the tiger and lion being larger. They historically were found in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and California, with range into Colorado and the Southeastern US. They were systematically killed off by hunters from the US after it took over the Southwest from Mexico. They are considered on the brink of being endangered in the Americas, as their habitat is encroached upon in Central and South America. They are considered endangered in the United States, after reversal of a decision under the Bush Administration not to protect them as endangered. In 2010, The US Fish and Wildlife Service reversed this decision under President Obama.
Currently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service plans to set aside approximately 860,000 acres of land in Southeastern Arizona and Southern New Mexico as protected jaguar habitat. This is the approximate size of Rhode Island. The frequency of jaguar sightings has increased in this new century, but there also have been jaguars shot and killed by unknown assailants. Jaguars are animals that reproduce all year round, and both female and males have at one time or another been seen in the American Borderlands.
Jaguars in the wild can grow to 350 pounds, although most Northern cats are between 100 and 150 pounds. They roar like lions and tigers, and are the only Western Hemisphere big cats that do this. They have very strong jaws, and can pierce bone with their bite. They enjoy water, similar to tigers. Jaguars' stature tends to be compact. They have large heads, paws, and fairly shorts tails. Their body, like most big cats, is quite muscular. Their pupils are the largest of the cats, taking into account their size in proportion to other big cats.
Jaguars kill their prey by piercing their prey's skull with their strong jaws as mentioned above. Jaguars are adept in plains, mountains, rainforests, and deserts. In the American Southwest they are known to prey upon Desert Bighorn Sheep, different kinds of birds, wild pigs (javelina), snakes, turtles, and even fish. Cattle and sheep are also killed, and the same problems wolves encounter are seen by so-called "problem jaguars."
Jaguars live about 15 years in the wild. Females mate with males but raise their cubs alone. Usually between two and four cubs are born. Cubs stay with their mothers for roughly two years, but are hunting earlier than that. Like domestic cats, cubs are blind at birth, but open their eyes quite quickly after birth.
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Jaguar-Adult Male
Currently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service plans to set aside approximately 860,000 acres of land in Southeastern Arizona and Southern New Mexico as protected jaguar habitat. This is the approximate size of Rhode Island. The frequency of jaguar sightings has increased in this new century, but there also have been jaguars shot and killed by unknown assailants. Jaguars are animals that reproduce all year round, and both female and males have at one time or another been seen in the American Borderlands.
Jaguars in the wild can grow to 350 pounds, although most Northern cats are between 100 and 150 pounds. They roar like lions and tigers, and are the only Western Hemisphere big cats that do this. They have very strong jaws, and can pierce bone with their bite. They enjoy water, similar to tigers. Jaguars' stature tends to be compact. They have large heads, paws, and fairly shorts tails. Their body, like most big cats, is quite muscular. Their pupils are the largest of the cats, taking into account their size in proportion to other big cats.
Jaguars kill their prey by piercing their prey's skull with their strong jaws as mentioned above. Jaguars are adept in plains, mountains, rainforests, and deserts. In the American Southwest they are known to prey upon Desert Bighorn Sheep, different kinds of birds, wild pigs (javelina), snakes, turtles, and even fish. Cattle and sheep are also killed, and the same problems wolves encounter are seen by so-called "problem jaguars."
Jaguars live about 15 years in the wild. Females mate with males but raise their cubs alone. Usually between two and four cubs are born. Cubs stay with their mothers for roughly two years, but are hunting earlier than that. Like domestic cats, cubs are blind at birth, but open their eyes quite quickly after birth.
Jaguar Cubs at 4 months
Little Cubs-Eyes Not Yet Open
Jaguars are ideal for the Upper Sonoran Desert. They require large amounts of territory for hunting, and have been tracked over hundreds of miles with radio receivers. They mark their hunting area like other cats. There have been several sightings since the turn of this century, and two have been killed in Arizona.
The territory set aside for jaguar habitat in the Southwest is partly private land, partly Indigenous land, and the rest public land, and is mostly higher altitude high desert mountain and forest terrain. The issue of maintaining "corridors" for jaguar to leave and enter the Mexican portion of their range is both current and critical. Further reading may help the reader's understanding of this problem.
Range of the Jaguar In the Last 150 Years
As may be discerned from this graphic, courtesy of the Center For Biological Diversity in Tucson, Arizona, there is a clear interrelationship for the jaguar between Arizona, New Mexico, Chihuahua, and Sonora in terms of migration potential and established historical habitat. There is documentation of Jaguar in the late 18th Century in the Upper Rio Grande headwaters area of Colorado. This animal, once thought to have been driven from the Southwest, is now reclaiming its territory. The areas set aside by the US Fish and Wildlife Service are displayed below:
Areas Set Aside For Jaguar Habitat In Arizona and New Mexico (about 1350 square miles)
The areas in New Mexico exclude the Gila Wilderness and Forest Areas. The Center For Biological Diversity has made the point that the areas already set aside do not have readily available water like the Gila Wilderness Area has. Jaguars have often been sighted above the 6000 foot elevation level, most likely due to more readily available water and prey. There are a number of rivers and streams in the Gila, including the Gila, San Francisco, and Salt Rivers. The New Mexico Bootheel, as illustrated above, is more desert-like topographically, although several mountain ranges top 5000 feet in elevation. Just for illustration, here are some pictures of the Peloncillo Range in New Mexico's Bootheel, one of the areas reserved for jaguars:
Jaguar Photographed in Northern Mexico
View of Peloncillo Mountains, New Mexico
View of a Moist Day in the Peloncillos, New Mexico
Diagram of Ranges in New Mexico's Bootheel, Including the Peloncillos
By now you are probably asking, why should any of this mean anything to me? Well, the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas have a saying that I will paraphrase. "We work to preserve our ways for the next seven generations." In my lifetime, thousands of species have gone extinct. Animals I took for granted as a child as "they will always be there" are struggling for survival. Elephants, lions, tigers, rhinos, whales, pandas, koalas, even the Great White Shark are on the verge of being gone forever. These are animals we assume will be there, and the jaguar is yet another one. If we want our kids, grandkids, and their grandkids to be able to see these magnificent creatures, we have to act. The time is now.
Here are some resources for further reading:
The Northern Jaguar Project:
The US Fish and Wildlife Service Jaguar Habitat Proposed Regulations:
jaguarhabitatusa:
panthera.org
Protect the Jaguar's Habitat: Care2 Petition:
Well I saved the best for last. The next picture is a photo of a rare black jaguar, a color which only appears in 6 of 100 births. Sometimes these are mistakenly called panthers, but they are indeed jaguars!
Rare Black Jaguar (Panthera onca)
Like the wolverine, Mexican Wolf, and other top American predators, the jaguar's very survival may depend on what humankind does in the next 20 to 40 years. It is up to us.
Text copyright by Peter Reum 2013-All Rights Reserved
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