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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."
Comments
(2007) My wife and I seen a large cat cross the road on 48 near Durant OK. A large cat had to be scared out of a garage in Tishimago. Both were black!! Do cougars came black?
Posted by Charles A Jones on December 20,2007 | 06:11PM
This past Saturday 06/21/08, 5 people saw a large black cat in the woods behind my lake house. My sister tried to take a picture of it, but only the eyes flashed from the camera. She sent the picture to a cougar web-site and they said that cougars would flash green eyes and since these were yellow it had to be a Jaguar. I live at Lake Wauwanoka, Hillsboro, MO. Please respond. Could it be someone's pet?? It was the size of a large dog. Sincerely, Kathy
Posted by Kathy L Rickermann on June 25,2008 | 05:07PM
My brother-in-law (who is sane, sober, and wide-awake)clearly saw a cougar-sized, long-tailed cat cross the road in front of him, in his headlights, a mile from our home. We are in west TN, four miles from the river, about 20 miles north of Memphis. This cat, also, was black. We may have a jaguar, or are there dark-coated cougars?
Posted by marianne miller on October 5,2008 | 07:07PM
My sons were in a creek in North Dallas this past June and two (age 22 and 24) of them saw a jaguar. City boys yes but these guys know their animals. It was about 30 feet across the creek and about 20 feet upstream, maybe 3:00 in the afternoon. They said it turned and saw them, and then eased on up into the brush. They were surprised by it's lack of panic. They weren't about to follow. This sounds strange but they were positive it was a jaguar.
Posted by Steve Holland on November 7,2008 | 09:54AM
In 1994, I was driving on highway 77 just outside Winkleman, Arizona I approched something big in the middle of the road. As I got closer I realized it was a dead animal. I pulled over and walked up to it, it was a cat, A very large black cat with brownish spots all over. At leased a dozen cars stopped after me so I got in my truck, and drove 2 miles to my friends house. They have to see this. We go back, and its gone. Somebody took it, and all that was left was a little spot of blood. Its still hard to get people to believe my story. But its TRUE......
Posted by Nathan Broyles on December 11,2008 | 05:01PM
I was speaking to a security guard at the Big Horn Country Club the other day. Big Horn is in Palm Desert, California. The woman said that a resident had called them at about 10 pm the previous evening. The resident was walking his dog and said he saw a large black cat, the size of a mountain lion. The security guard arrived and saw the cat too. They described it as a black panther. It sounds impossible since there have only been two jaguar sitings in the last decade in the United States, and they had mottled spots as most jaguars do.
Posted by Robert Marcos on December 22,2008 | 05:35PM
Huntland, Tennessee in Franklin County. I’m 58 years old and when I was a boy approximately 12 years old an old lady that I delivered news papers to told me she saw our dog and several other neighborhood dogs chasing a black panther. It jumped the fence behind her house and escaped. The year was approximately 1962. In approximately 1963 my father was logging in the neighboring Jackson County Alabama. They were repairing the track on the bulldozer and it was getting dark. My father heard what he called a panther scream in the woods about 200 yards above them. He said they packed up their tools and went home. He had heard bobcats before, but he said that the sound of the scream was no bobcat. I worked with a guy that at the time of the sighting only lived 3 miles out of Huntland. On his way home one night a black panther ran across the road in front of him just a short way from his home. In 1998 my son and son in law and I were working with our hunting club in Franklin County taking fertilizer to the game plots. My son in law was in front of me on his four wheeler. He all of a sudden came to a halt. I had to dodge to miss him because of the bad brakes on my four wheeler. He said “did you see that”. He saw a black panther run across the jeep road about 20 yards in front of him. I didn’t see it, but have no doubt he did. I've heard of other reports of people seeing black panthers in this area and other areas of Tennessee. I believe they have been here all along, but in real low numbers.
Posted by Bruce Cox on January 4,2009 | 07:29AM
For anyone curious about this, I live near Tucson where we have captured some of the photos of the Jaguars. I was watching Monster Quest on History Channel last night and it was about the large black cats being sited near OK and all across the midwest along with the Arizona sightings. Im sure you could find the episode on History channel's site or maybe Monster Quest. Even just Google it and you will pull up a lot of information on the subject. Thought maybe it would help someone!
Posted by Judy Price on February 9,2009 | 08:24PM
Most of the accounts above are Cougars (Felis Concolor) or maybe a Jaguarundi (Herpailurus yaguarondi) for any southern sitings. Also, I can promise you that eye shine is totally unreliable. Cats (usually) have green that may switch to orange but can have green, orange, or red. Fox can have all those colors as well. Rats will show red or orange and even spiders will show enough glow to make you look twice. I.E.> eye shine won't determine kingdom, let alone species... If anyone wants to be taken seriously please, PLEASE get a photo. Your phone has a camera. I don't want to hear "I missed the shot" from a guy who catches every boob flash at Mardi Gras, I just want to see a frickin American Jaguar. Go out there and prove yourselves - Show Me A Jaguar!
Posted by Skeptic... on February 28,2009 | 02:37AM
Between Hobbs and Artesia New Mexico Hwy 529. Near dark. The year was 1976 and as my Father, uncle and I drove towards Hobbs I saw a large black cat cross the road. The tail was HUGE and very thick. My father (passenger) only say the tail and my uncle did not see it. I did not see its face but distinctly remember the back color. The area is mostly sand dunes and open rolling hills. I thought it was very strange to see any animal in this area but I know what I saw.
Posted by ECP on March 2,2009 | 04:27AM
Study after study has shown that people are not very observant, and that when they do notice things they don't remember them correctly - in fact, they often exaggerate the size of things, especially animals. The funny thing about all these puma sightings is that the puma (AKA cougar, mountain lion, Florida panther, etc.) is never black. Leopards (who only live in the Old World) and jaguars (who during the ice age lived as far north as Nebraska and Pennsylvania, but in the U. S. today are restricted to areas close to the Mexican border) are only rarely black. So why is everybody seeing black panthers? Pumas are recolonizing their former range, but it will be a long time before we have breeding populations even in areas that would be fine puma habitat. And they didn't just stick around there after being hunting out a hundred years ago, because their prey was gone too. It is possible that people are seeing black jaguars or leopards that were raised as pets and then released, but these generally have no skills to survive, and get shot by police after they are spotted lounging at a bus stop or digging out of trashcans. People will scream "I know what I saw!" but they don't. Perhaps a few "black panther" sightings in the southwestern U. S. are legitimate, but most people simply saw a black lab, a dark bobcat, or a house cat.
Posted by RD on March 23,2009 | 12:13PM
Im a hunter and avid outdoorsman in NC and in TN. I have seen some strange animals near the cape fear river in NC but the other day when i was walking in the woods i saw a very large dark cat with spots on it. since i have seen many mountain lions before i knew it was not one. when i saw it i was so scared i jumped in and swam across rockfish creek. this cat was about waist high and was probably 150 pounds. i called the local game warden and he told me it was probably a black bear. i told him this was no bear i was ten yards away from it and i have hunted a few bears before. he told me the only cat that big and that color is a jaguar but they dont live in the U.S. i will be setting camera traps and will try to get evidence.
Posted by Travis on July 16,2009 | 12:16AM
Indeed as child growing towards up my father and I did see great many Jaguar while hunting walrus in native Northeast Kallalit Nunaat. one indeed was seen eating my family repeatedly but no picture was taken of it by the me. It is supposed that they HAVE indeed traveled far to north, and are speckled still unlike mighty white bear, near pole, in north.
Posted by ittaqquolliquoit on July 23,2009 | 02:39PM
The first week of Nov 2009, I was up late one night when motion sensors turned on the lights outside my window. The house is near the Magee Rd & 1st Avenue trail-head in the Santa Catalina foothills, Tucson AZ. I was able to get a very good look at a large cat (smaller than Jaguar) but appeared to move and look like Jaguar. It had unusually long thick tail and dark spots on a light brownish-gray fur. Never stretched the legs to full while easily climbing the wall and disappearing on the cliff behind in dark looking back towards me. I had not seen anything like this before although the house is frequented by Havelinas and Bobcats even during the day hours. I must mention though that there is a large presence of big rats in the area maybe the food source and the house water fall outside my window.
Posted by A Raina on November 16,2009 | 03:17PM