All About Animals

Jaguar populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, killing for trophies/illegal trade in body parts, pro-active or retaliatory killings associated with livestock depredation, and competition for wild meat with human hunters. Deforestation rates in Latin America are the highest in the world together with tropical Africa. Industrial agriculture, along with subsistence agriculture, is the most significant driver of deforestation in tropical and subtropical countries, accounting for 80% of deforestation from 2000-2010. The current contribution of agriculture to deforestation varies by region, with industrial agriculture being responsible for 30% of deforestation in Africa and Asia, but close to 70% in Latin America. The most significant agricultural drivers of deforestation include soy, palm oil, and cattle ranching, all highly prevalent throughout Latin America. The produce is mainly used for export as raw products for developing countries, not to feed local populations. Fragmentation and displacement frequently leads to lowering of densities of Jaguars and prey in leftover forest patches due to easier access and Jaguars feeding on the replaced livestock. Jaguar-livestock conflict is a serious threat to Jaguar survival and reported throughout their range.  Latin America is characterized by relatively low population densities with high population growth. This means that the increased agricultural expansion will likely not be used to feed the expanding population of Latin America. Increased pressure on wildlife as a food source will increase. Even in low population countries like Belize, 75% of the yearly wildlife offtake can be attributed to humans, while Jaguars only account for 25%. Increases in human population within these thinly populated countries means, increased fragmentation for agriculture, industry and urbanization necessary for sustaining the increased number of people, making the wildlife easier accessible for hunting. The greater need for food and potential increase in wealth for a proportion of the population means increased commercialisation and increased prizes for wildlife game species, which are all Jaguar prey species.  Habitat loss is reducing and isolating Jaguar populations range wide. Jaguars have lost about 49% of their historic geographic range. The white-lipped peccary an important Jaguar prey, has been extirpated from 21% of its historical range during the past century and changed from NT to VU under the latest IUCN assessment. Jaguars have become extinct in El Salvador, Uruguay, and the United States (where there are still periodic individuals present as presumed dispersers from Mexico). There are documented population declines and habitat loss for most of the range countries. Connectivity among Jaguar populations is being lost at local and regional scales. For example, the connectivity of Jaguar habitat between Honduras and Guatemala is almost gone; similar losses have been documented across the Chaco, Iguazu and Atlantic Forest, and between Tamaulipas and Veracruz. Isolated populations have fewer individuals and are more prone to local extinctions. Many Jaguar populations require connectivity between core sites to survive in the long term and these connectivity corridors are most of the time outside protected areas, and therefore vulnerable to human impacts. Even in nominally protected areas, Jaguars often suffer from human impacts such as illegal hunting.  The vulnerability of the Jaguar to persecution is demonstrated by its disappearance by the mid-1800 from Uruguay, El Salvador and by the mid-1900's from the south-western US. Disappearance from these countries catches the current trends in a nutshell. These countries were the first areas to show rapid population increase with large scale land conversion. Retaliatory killing of the remaining exposed Jaguars led to their extinction. These processes are now taking place on a continental scale and therefore there are few areas within Jaguar range that can be considered safe. With limited technological expansion in the region, the main source of income will be industrial agriculture. With every (local) economic crisis, it means that the last Jaguar strongholds will be eroded further. Commercial hunting and trapping of Jaguars for their pelts has declined drastically since the mid-1970s, when anti-fur campaigns and CITES controls progressively shut down international markets. However, there is still demand for Jaguar paws, teeth and other products, especially in local markets where canines are still considered interesting jewellery. On top of this, Jaguars are starting to be considered a replacement for tiger bone for traditional medicine purposes by the increasing Asian community in Latin America.