We are committed to protecting the jaguars of the Mesoamerican Culture Area (MCA).
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Protecting the jaguars of the Lowland Maya area (primarily the Yucatán Peninsula) is a difficult task. There are two projects underway, however, that merit support.
One is Jaguars Without Borders, which is a program between Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. This consortium was launched 10-15 November 2003 at a conference in Chetumal, Mexico. The consortium focuses on the importance of protecting the habitats of the jaguar in the Calakmul (Mexico) and Peten (Guatemala, Western Belize) area.
The other program is a collaboration between Instituto de Ecología UNAM, Pronatura Península de Yucatán and the Fort Worth (Texas) Zoo. This program, designed to protect critical habitats of the Mangrove Jaguar, the most elusive of all jaguars, has been underway for almost half a decade. Stacey Johnson, of the Fort Worth (Texas) Zoo, has been working with Juan Carlos Faller of Pronatura Península de Yucatán, and Cuauhtémoc Chávez, Instituto de Ecología UNAM, to survey critical habitats of the mangrove jaguar along the northern shores of Yucatán. Dr. Johnson is pictured at left, setting up the motion-sensitive camera.
The video clip below was filmed with motion-sensitive cameras at El Zapotal Reserve. As Dr. Johnson says, “Camera sites are first plotted on a detailed map of the area and then located on the ground using GPS. We mount the cameras to trees in areas where wildlife is known to travel through the forest. Film is collected for developing every two to four weeks, and cameras are moved to new sites every four weeks. Over a six-month period, more than 100 square kilometers will be studied.”
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Our efforts in the 2009-2010 timeframe are centered on supporting Jaguars Without Borders, which has encountered funding obstacles. This crucial program needs to be funded properly if it is to be successful, and we are committed to helping them succeed.
The original budget for the Regional Strategy for the Conservation of Jaguars in the Selva Maya was $57,190.00 USD. Of that, only $28,750.00 USD has been raised to date. Given the critical nature of the area in question – this photograph is of a jaguar that was hit by a driver speeding on a jungle road in the Guatemalan Petén – demonstrates the urgency with which this program needs to be implemented.
The importance of this consortium is that it strives to combine conservation efforts along the triangle formed by the Mexico-Guatemala-Belize border, uniting efforts to protect the central Maya Lowlands. Each individual jaguar requires almost fifty square miles of habitat, often crossing international borders and into human communities. One of the consequences of greater tourism and tourist-related development has been encroachment of human communities into the jaguar habitats. This contributes to conflicts, with the jaguars losing critical habitat.
It is imperative that we support these two programs to protect the jaguar.
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| Some facts about the jaguar…
· Size: The jaguar is the third largest feline in the world, after tigers and lions, It is the largest feline in the Americas.
· The jaguar’s name: The word “jaguar” is derived from the word “yaguara”, which in Guarani (the family of languages of the Guarani Indians in South America) and means “beast that kills with one leap.”
· Lifespan: Jaguars in the wild can live between 12 and 16 years. Jaguars in captivity have been known to live up to 20 years.
· Offspring: The jaguar’s litter size ranges from one to four cubs. Cubs will remain with their mothers for two years.
· Prey: Jaguar have a diverse diet, and their prey base includes such species as peccaries (wild pigs), capybaras (large rodents), deer, sloths, alligators, tapirs, freshwater fish and smaller animals. They occasionally prey on domestic livestock, the primary reason they are targeted by ranchers.
· Click on the image to the left to see a video of jaguars from the BBC.
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| Monumental ruins prove that the Yucatán Peninsula has been home to people for about a thousand years. Those ruins contain elaborate jaguar imagery, testifying to the fact that jaguars shared the forest and prowled the people's imaginations. Admired for its hunting prowess and strength, feared for the same reasons, the elusive jaguar came to represent beauty, power, cunning, and mystery entwined in rituals and stories … Please click on the image to the left to read Marian Blue’s article, “Jaguar Rising.”
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