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Panthera onca
– Near Threatened
Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
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ANIMALIA
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Phylum:
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CHORDATA
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Class:
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MAMMALIA
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Order:
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CARNIVORA
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Family:
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FELIDAE
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Scientific Name:
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Panthera onca
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Species Authority:
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(Linnaeus, 1758)
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Common Name/s:
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JAGUAR (Eng, Fre, Spa)
OTORONGO (Spa)
TIGRE AMERICANO (Spa)
TIGRE REAL (Spa)
YAGUARETE (Spa)
YAGUAR (Spa)
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Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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NT ver 3.1 (2001)
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Year Assessed:
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2002
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Assessor/s:
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Cat Specialist Group
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Evaluator/s:
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Nowell, K., Breitenmoser, U., Breitenmoser, C. & Jackson, P. (Cat Red List Authority)
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Justification:
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Based on estimates of density and geographic range (Nowell and Jackson 1996), the Jaguar’s total effective population size is estimated at below 50,000 mature breeding individuals, with a declining trend due to persecution and degradation of its habitat and prey base, and may possibly qualify as Vulnerable if these trends persist, or if better information on its status were available.
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History:
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| 1982 | - | Vulnerable (Thornback and Jenkins 1982) |
| 1986 | - | Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986) |
| 1988 | - | Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988) |
| 1990 | - | Vulnerable (IUCN 1990) |
| 1996 | - | Lower Risk/near threatened (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) |
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Geographic Range
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Range Description:
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The jaguar is the largest cat of the Americas, and the only living representative of the genus Panthera found in the New World (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Its stronghold is in the rainforest of the Amazon Basin , but it is declining in most other habitats.
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Countries:
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Native:
Argentina; Belize; Bolivia; Brazil; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; French Guiana; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Suriname; United States; Venezuela
Regionally extinct:
El Salvador; Uruguay
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Population
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Population:
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The Jaguar has been virtually eliminated from much of the drier northern parts of its range, as well as the pampas scrub grasslands of Argentina and throughout Uruguay. The most urgent conservation problem for the Jaguar throughout much of its range is the current intolerance of ranchers. The vulnerability of the Jaguar to persecution is demonstrated by its disappearance in the mid-1900's from the southwestern US and northern Mexico, areas which remain today home to important puma populations.
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Population Trend:
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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The species is strongly associated with the presence of water. Habitats range from rainforest to seasonally flooded swamp areas, pampas grassland, thorn scrub woodland, and dry deciduous forest (Nowell and Jackson 1996). In Belize, jaguars are reportedly more abundant in lowland areas of relatively dense forest cover with permanent water sources than in open, seasonally dry forests. Although jaguars have been reported from elevations as high as 3,800 m, they typically avoid montane forest, and have not been found in the high plateau of central Mexico or above 2,700 m in the Andes. Jaguars take a wide variety of prey species but large-sized ungulates are preferred when available (Nowell and Jackson 1996).
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System:
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Terrestrial; Freshwater; Marine
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Threats
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Threats:
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Deforestation rates are high in Latin America and fragmentation of forest habitat isolates jaguar populations so that they are more vulnerable to the predations of man (Nowell and Jackson 1996). People compete with jaguars for prey, and jaguars are frequently shot on sight, despite protective legislation (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Jaguars are also known to kill cattle, and are killed by ranchers as pest species. The vulnerability of the jaguar to persecution is demonstrated by its disappearance by the mid-1900's from the south-western US and northern Mexico (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Commercial hunting and trapping of jaguars for their pelts has declined drastically since the mid-1970's, when anti-fur campaigns and CITES controls progressively shut down international markets (Nowell and Jackson 1996).
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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Included on CITES Appendix I. The jaguar is fully protected at the national level across most of its range, with hunting prohibited in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela, and hunting restrictions in place in Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru (Nowell and Jackson 1996). The species also occurs within protected areas in some of its range.
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