Return of the Jaguar?

Novel camera traps have documented the elusive cat in Arizona, suggesting it may not be gone from the United States after all

  • By Will Rizzo
  • Smithsonian magazine, December 2005, Subscribe
 

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Experts disagree about what the photographs signify. Alan Rabinowitz of the Wildlife Conservation Society says the animals may merely be dispersing from a dwindling population in Sonora, Mexico, about 130 miles south of Douglas, Arizona. "I think that the [Sonora] population is in serious trouble, and we're almost seeing it act like an organism reaching out and trying its hardest to survive in any way possible." But some of the photographs suggest otherwise. Macho B's canine teeth are yellow and worn, indicating that the cat is 4 to 6 years old, well past the age when he would leave his home turf, McCain says. And if the third camera-trap sighting is of a female jaguar, there's a chance the animals are mating. Craig Miller, a conservationist at Defenders of Wildlife, is hopeful that the U.S. population might recover. "For every one of those jaguars photographed, it could represent two or three more in adjacent habitat," he says.

In March 2003, a Mexico City-based conservation organization called Naturalia purchased a 10,000-acre ranch in Sonora to serve as the core of a private jaguar reserve. Mexican president Vicente Fox proclaimed 2005 the year of the jaguar, and an international convention was held in October on management of the cat.

One rainy day back in the 100-square-mile study area in southeastern Arizona, McCain and I journey to the largest canyon in the mountains. The cameras here have generated 12 photographs of Macho A and Macho B. Two elegant trogons, parrot-like birds whose range is similar to that of the jaguar, call from steep walls. "This site changed the way we think about jaguars in the Southwest," McCain says as he changes the batteries in a camera. "More jaguar photographs have been taken at this spot than in all of the Southwest since the 1950s. This site alone shows these animals are not transients."


The paw print, judging from the size of it, was left by a large cat just a day or two earlier. Emil McCain kneels over it in the sandy bottom of an Arizona canyon a mile from the U.S.-Mexico border. "This isn't a mountain lion track," McCain says, shaking his head after measuring and then tracing it onto a piece of plexiglass.

The print is huge, four-toed and without claws, like that of a large mountain lion. But the heel pad is too big for a mountain lion, the toes too close to the back pad.

We follow the cat's trail below camel-colored rimrock and live oaks to where it passes an automated camera. For the past year, McCain has operated nearly 30 heat-triggered cameras in these remote mountains that connect the U.S. borderlands to Mexico's northernmost Sierra Madre. When the film is developed days later, McCain's instincts are proved correct. The cat isn't a mountain lion—it's a jaguar, low slung and powerful, moving past yucca and volcanic rock, its eyes reflecting gold in the camera's flash.

For four years, camera traps operated by the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project, based in Amado, Arizona, have documented two jaguars in these high, arid washes. They may have caught a third animal on film—the cat appears differently patterned than the others. If it is a female, it would be the first one known in the United States in 40 years. It's possible the cats were here all along, unnoticed, or they may be visitors from Mexico. It's also possible that jaguars are returning to—and breeding in—the United States.

The jaguar's range historically extended from northeastern Argentina through Brazil, Central America and Mexico, and followed the mountains along Mexico's Pacific and gulf coasts into Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. But the animals lost ground in the past century. In 1963, a hunter in Arizona's White Mountains shot a female, the last of her sex to be documented in the United States. Two years later, the last legally killed jaguar, a male, was taken by a deer hunter in the Patagonia Mountains, south of Tucson.

In 1969, Arizona outlawed most jaguar hunting, but with no females known to be at large, there was little hope the population could rebound. During the next 25 years, only two jaguars were documented in the United States, both killed: a large male shot in 1971 near the Santa Cruz River by two teenage duck hunters, and another male cornered by hounds in the Dos Cabezas Mountains in 1986.

The animals' prospects brightened in 1996, when Warner Glenn, a rancher and hunting guide from Douglas, Arizona, came across a jaguar in the Peloncillo Mountains of southeastern Arizona. Catching the jaguar on a ledge, Glenn snapped a few pictures, pulled back his hounds and allowed the animal to stride away. Six months later and 150 miles to the west, Tucson houndsmen Jack Childs and Matt Colvin treed a second jaguar near the reservation of the Tohono O’odham Nation. The cat, about 150 pounds and groggy from feeding, allowed himself to be videotaped for an hour.

Not long after Childs' surprise encounter, the hunter became a jaguar researcher, even traveling to Brazil's Pantanal wilderness to study the cats. In 1999, he began placing remote cameras in Arizona where jaguars had been seen in the past. By December 2001, he had his first jaguar photograph: a male weighing between 130 and 150 pounds and later dubbed Macho A. The jaguar looked healthy, well fed and heavily built, with a broad, wide skull that flowed back to a torso shaped like a cylinder of muscle. Macho A turned up on film in August 2003, and again in September 2004. Childs and McCain have since picked up a second male, Macho B, and possibly a third animal.

Experts disagree about what the photographs signify. Alan Rabinowitz of the Wildlife Conservation Society says the animals may merely be dispersing from a dwindling population in Sonora, Mexico, about 130 miles south of Douglas, Arizona. "I think that the [Sonora] population is in serious trouble, and we're almost seeing it act like an organism reaching out and trying its hardest to survive in any way possible." But some of the photographs suggest otherwise. Macho B's canine teeth are yellow and worn, indicating that the cat is 4 to 6 years old, well past the age when he would leave his home turf, McCain says. And if the third camera-trap sighting is of a female jaguar, there's a chance the animals are mating. Craig Miller, a conservationist at Defenders of Wildlife, is hopeful that the U.S. population might recover. "For every one of those jaguars photographed, it could represent two or three more in adjacent habitat," he says.

In March 2003, a Mexico City-based conservation organization called Naturalia purchased a 10,000-acre ranch in Sonora to serve as the core of a private jaguar reserve. Mexican president Vicente Fox proclaimed 2005 the year of the jaguar, and an international convention was held in October on management of the cat.

One rainy day back in the 100-square-mile study area in southeastern Arizona, McCain and I journey to the largest canyon in the mountains. The cameras here have generated 12 photographs of Macho A and Macho B. Two elegant trogons, parrot-like birds whose range is similar to that of the jaguar, call from steep walls. "This site changed the way we think about jaguars in the Southwest," McCain says as he changes the batteries in a camera. "More jaguar photographs have been taken at this spot than in all of the Southwest since the 1950s. This site alone shows these animals are not transients."


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I saw a 70 lb melanistic jaguar earlier this year in NC and there are many more reported if anyone cares?

Posted by Randall Cullinan on December 31,2012 | 06:11 PM

One can only hope these beautiful animals can be allowed to breed and multiply as nature needs. It is such a shame that ignorant people take it for granted just for sport. To wipe out such beauty from out planet is just plain stupid. Unless you must kill it to avoid being killed, I would plead with people to only scare it by shooting warning shots. I would like to know, my grandchildren and theirs can enjoy knowing and seeing this animal forever.

Posted by Linda on May 26,2012 | 08:36 AM

Date: Sunday, Feb 19th,2012, at approximately 1:30pm. My husband and I and our border collie were just entering the Rams's Pass public walking trail, when our dog suddenly began staring down a cat that was sitting directly across from us, estimated to be 75 ft. The weight of the cat was 35-40 lbs and my first assumption because of its black coat was that it appeared to be a panther. Our dog chased the animal up a tree and it was then that I noticed the black curled tail and according to previous sightings would identify it as either a panther or a black jaguar. It was not aggressive to us, but lept in the tree and stayed there until we immediately called our dog to return to us. We continued our walk and after returning to the same destination two hrs later, it had disappeared.

Posted by Christine Reding on February 19,2012 | 07:13 PM

We hunt the Sabine National Forest near Highway 87, and Six Mile - Opening Deer Season Weekend, 2011 November - a coworker and hunting buddy walked up on a Large Black Cat - crouched near the tree, he had been hunting the previous day. It was before daylight, but he had a very bright flashlight - and lit the cat up at about 10 feet away. He estimated it about 4 feet in body length and thick and wide - JET BLACK. There was no doubt in his mind, it was not a bobcat - it was much bigger. I have called the TPW - but they have no knowledge of large cats in the Sabine Area. He took another guy back to the spot later, where they were able to see the tracks of the cat - they were large. Several of us hunt the area - and have never seen anything like it - there is no reason to lie.

Posted by Mark Bond on November 15,2011 | 09:32 PM

I was deer hunting in the Catalina mountains in Tucson, AZ (near sabino canyon) around 1987 and observed a large black cat with a very long black tail. It walked low to the ground. It was about 400 yards away, but I was able to watch the beautiful animal for a couple minutes. I have always wondered what kind of cat it was, but it had to be some species of jaguar or cougar.

Posted by jon on August 16,2011 | 07:29 PM

These jaguars never left the U.S. People living in the country, especially near the creeks, see them over the years. Jaguars, BLACK ONES, not mountain lions (which we also see) live in Missippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The government does not want people to know because it is bad for tourism. We only go in the woods with the dogs.

Posted by J on August 3,2011 | 03:12 PM

A few years ago my uncle and I had a 25,000 ac.hunting lease on the Rio Grande river near Laredo, Texas We observed a large Jaguar on the Texas side of the river ,heard its distinctive grunts, and found its tracks.
In addition we saw a Mountain Lion and found its tracks.
There is such a large differnce between the two animals, that mistaken identity is impossible.

Posted by Bobby Jones on June 13,2011 | 03:55 PM

Well I'm sure there will be the trophy hunters out there poaching them because heaven forbid man cannot live in harmony with nature! Man has to kill, Man has to destroy, this is what man does so you can figure that any Jaguars living in the United States will be killed by some moron just for the thrill of it!

Posted by stormtiger on June 11,2011 | 09:02 PM

Well the government can say all they want that they do not exist here but in fact they do. I live in central Illinois and for the last month we have spotted a black jaguar in the field across from our home. Not only have we spotted it several times but so have neighbors in which one of them is a Tazewell County Sheriffs officer who happens to live on our road. It favors the field behind his home. We were informed by the IDNR that it would not be a black panther but biologists say a black jaguar and they do not belong here and if we feel threatened we could shoot it. (easier said than done). Recently cameras have been set up by a independent owner, hoping to catch it on wildlife cam. Unfortunely given the chance it will be shot and killed since they dont seem interested in capturing it. Although our area is building up there are thousands of acres including a proving ground with 3,000 acres in itself at the end of our road plus a church camp in which has hundreds of kids running around in the woods in the summer time, not to mention livestock. We have indeed been fortunate to witness the speed of this animal going after a herd of deer. We as neighbors have been forced to take matters into our own hands to protect our children, elderly and livestock. Hundreds of sightings have been reported in Illinois so we cant all be blind.

Posted by Cindy Rodney on April 3,2011 | 12:38 PM

I have two friends who claimed to have seen a Jaguar on the banks of the Rio Grande River near Lajitas Texas. They say that while vacationing there about 2 years ago they noticed a large cat resting in the shade below a big boulder on the Mexican side of the river. They say the cat was about 50-60 yards away, just sitting there. At first they thought it was a mountain lion but after it stood up and walked away they noticed immediately the markings. I figure that with the vast wilderness of the area on both sides of the border there is definitely the possibility of jaguars living there.

Posted by George Gonzalez on March 10,2011 | 12:25 AM

last evening about 6pm my husband and I thought we saw a cat walking accross the road and then through a field across from our house. A very large black cat. As it got closer we realized it wasn't a domestic cat at all. Pure black and about the size of small mountain lion with a long , very long, tail. It strutted accross the field and disappeared into the brush. We got our binoculars and drove the 50 yards or so to the last spot we saw it, but it was gone. we are right along the colorado river at Bullhead City AZ

Posted by d perreault on February 10,2011 | 08:33 AM

We were at the Murray Springs National Park in southwest Arizona in December 2010. While out walking on the interpretive trail, I heard a low, vibrating growl several times. My husband could not hear it, but it was clear as day to me. I looked up various growls when we got back, and I believe it was a jaguar. It was not a dog, or a puma, which has a much higher pitched growl. I was happy to get away from it, and it did not follow us, or did not growl again, in any event. We did not see it. I was not looking to become prey that day, but I think the growling was a warning - perhaps it had a kill and was warning us away.

Posted by Jody Weems on December 18,2010 | 06:27 PM

In January of 2010, I made a trip with 2 friends to Falcon Lake in South Texas. While fishing from our boat on the Mexican side of the lake we noticed an animal at about 100 yards walking along the shore. We didnt pay much attention to it since we believed it was a dog or coyote. After about 10 minutes we ended drifting towards that general direction but had already forgotten about the animal only to be surprised from a loud roar. We all got extremely scared since the roar seemed to be right in front of us. The brush was really thick so we couldnt really see anything. We backed our boat about 30 feet from shore for safety and started to look for the animal. We eventually noticed a big cat sitting low under a tree. It looked huge, definitely too big to be a bobcat. We couldnt really see its markings since it looked almost black in the shade. We concluded that it had to be either a Mountain Lion or Jaguar. I do know that mountain lions cant roar yet we were shocked to believed it could have been a Jaguar. We watched it for about 10 minutes in amazement until we drifted away. My friend took some pictures of it. Not very clear but you can definitely see that its a big cat. What was shocking was the roar, it was really loud. We werent more than 30-40 feet from the animal when we heard it. While talking to people from the area we were told that there are definitely Jaguars in the area especially on the Mexican side where there seems to be less hunters to kill them. To this day I am amazed to have experienced that. Its just a weird feeling to know that it was there right in front of us. If it hadnt made any noise we would have never noticed it.

Posted by Jack Butler on November 15,2010 | 09:49 PM

In mid june 1980 at the bluff springs,florida church camp grounds(owned by The Community Of Christ Church)my cousin Clay Gilmore and another camper Terry Overstreet saw one.While returning to our rooms from the dinning hall and approaching a short foot bridge Terry said "LOOK AT THAT" whispering of course.To my shock and amasement a black cat was sitting in the middle of the bridge under the light that lit the bridge at night.The time was around 9:00 p.m. and we were able to approach it for another four steps already 100 from it.We were walking in the dark to the bridge that was lit up and upon hearing us it jumped from the bridge toward the dirrection it had been looking.We paused to look at it long enough to identify it as a jaguar because of it's spots,thick tail,and short pointy ears.I thought it escaped from a collector,but maybe not.

Posted by John Booker on September 29,2010 | 03:39 PM



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