Amazonian Jaguar

[Balam]

"Jaguar - in my humble opinion, the most impressive large mammalian carnivore species I’ve had the privilege to study. Jaguar to me embody all things that are wild and regal. Disturbing news recently out of Suriname has me concerned about an uptick in illegal jaguar poaching.

Here’s the deal, Suriname is a South American country bordering Guyana, French Guyana, and Brazil. The Guyana shield is a unique tropical forest system which is separate from the Amazon basin. Jaguar have healthy mostly contiguous populations throughout the heart of Amazonia in addition to the Guyana shield. They are also found throughout Central America and south to Argentina, however the core populations are in northern South America.

Chinese immigration has increased in Suriname over the past decade - predictably this has created an illegal wildlife trafficking network with direct ties back to China. Chinese natural resource extraction (logging, mining, poaching) in developing countries, like Suriname, proves detrimental to large mammal communities time and time again. The jaguar are poached by Afro-Suriname or indigenous people who sell the entire cat to Chinese merchants, who “loiter like vultures” around gold mining camps. To quote the article “hunters say everyone knows that the Chinese are looking for jaguar” and “for the poor living in the region, a dead jaguar brings in a good sum”. The poached big cats are taken whole (besides teeth and claws, these are sold separately) to the capital Paramaribo where the jaguar are boiled down into a paste, this disgusting process can take nearly a week. Once processed the discrete vials will be smuggled to China and sold at nearly 3,000$ per 500-milligrams vial.

This is how we chose to treat an apex carnivore key to the rainforest’s ecological function and wildness? Unacceptable China, jaguar in Brazil’s pantanal wetland have become infamous for their ecotourism success. Certain cats have been valued at roughly 6 million dollars because tourist simply want to photograph them. This is just one example of our dysfunction as a human species, we MUST become aware of these issues to protect jaguar and the tropical forest they need to survive"

*This image is copyright of its original author

Sani Lodge - Ecuador

"Jaguar - this male stopped to observe my camera in his domain. The true king of the jungle doesn’t miss a beat in his forest - I like how this black and white came out with his eye shine glowing just as night sets over the rainforest."

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

"Jaguar (Panthera onca) male marking his territory in the Amazon rainforest. Wild felids communicate primarily via scent markings, their urine relays important information to one another such as territorial boundaries, hormonal cycles, and which species has been present. This Jaguar is immensely strong and regularly hunt species like Black Caiman, White-lipped Peccary, and Lowland Tapir."

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

"Headed back to the jungle this summer for more research. This burley male Jaguar (Panthera onca) I named Vader showed up when the water levels were at their lowest and prey became increasingly concentrated. He was right in the home range of the resident male I had filmed for weeks."

*This image is copyright of its original author

Iwokrama Forest - Guyana

"Jaguar male crosses in front of the camera under the cover of night. He’s a stocky guy who looks to be in excellent condition. This camera was a whopping 150m from our research camp, just like a ghost it appears from the darkness and within seconds he’s gone."

*This image is copyright of its original author

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By Sean McHugh Reply