Jaguar

Threat category: endangered.

In the Mexican Official Standard 059 is listed as endangered (P)In Mexico this species is distributed from tropical forests from southern Mexico to the Rio Grande in the Gulf and in the Sierra Madre Occidental to the Pacific coast to the border with Belize and Guatemala. Usually, the altitude of these areas is 1000 meters above sea level.There are natural areas of protection for this cat, the most important are the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Campeche and Quintana Roo in Sian Ka'an. The jaguar is extinct in the area of ​​Tuxtla and most of southern Mexico as a result of intensive hunting and forest destruction (COATES-ESTRADA & ESTRADA, 1986).

In the 90 were estimated around 350 jaguars in some areas of the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In 1992, estimated from 125 to 180 jaguars in Mexico in an area of ​​4000 km 2 in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, and another 350 in the state of Chiapas. In 2006 it was estimated that in Mexico were between 100 and 150 copies. (According to information from Oscar Moctezuma, director of Naturalia, Committee for the Conservation of Wildlife).In Calakmul was estimated density of a jaguar for every 26 to 32 km2 with a one to one ratio of males and females.

Knowledge about the size of wildlife populations is a key aspect for consideration and handling. Among the technical evidence that could be used with this cat, the collection of fingerprints and the differentiation of individuals based on them is a practical in areas with good conditions for printing steps. A better differentiation and fingerprint analysis is achieved by making plaster casts of them. In the place of work using this technique (380 km2), identified the presence of six copies of adult males, six adult females, five juveniles and an infant bystanders. Based on these data is thus estimated the density of jaguars in the area.
By: Ruiz Eseguia Lucy Irais