Imperiled ‘cloud jaguar’ spotted in Honduran mountains for the first time in a decade

Endangered ‘cloud jaguar’ spotted in Honduran mountains for first time in a decade

By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Andrea Thompson

In newly released images, a rare “cloud jaguar” weaves through the dense foliage of the jungle-covered mountains of Honduras’ Sierra del Merendón. The sighting offers a glimmer of hope for the imperiled big cat, which is struggling to survive across its range in North and South America, largely due to a combination of habitat loss and poaching.

As farmland, deforestation and human development have fractured its habitat, the jaguar lost about 25% of its adult population between 1995 and 2016, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), which classifies the species as “near threatened.”

Jaguars, whose coats feature characteristic spots and rosettes, are the only living members of the genus. Panther which are native to the Americas. (Other members are lions, tigers, leopards and snow leopards.)

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The newly released images, taken in February, show a rare young male “cloud jaguar” – a jaguar living at high altitudes – in the Sierra del Merendón, a key connectivity corridor between the jaguar populations of Honduras and Guatemala. This is the first time scientists say they have captured a jaguar on camera in these mountains in about 10 years.

“For jaguars, connectivity is everything,” says Allison Devlin, Jaguar program director at Panthera, an environmental organization that took the images. “The Merendón Range functions as a stepping stone in the Jaguar Corridor that stretches from Mexico to Argentina, meaning that one individual thriving there signals the potential viability of the corridor. »

This observation also proves that conservation efforts — such as anti-poaching patrols, the introduction of prey animals including iguanas and peccaries, and protecting this wildlife corridor — are yielding “real results,” Devlin says.

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