Modern Weights and Measurements of Jaguars

[Balam]

I have some updates regarding the captures in the Llanos performed by Panthera that are very exciting. 
I was in contact with a biologist who is indirectly involved in the collaring project (he tracks anteaters but knows the developments with the jaguar projects). As expected he told me that the organization was not giving out information concerning the captures at La Aurora, this is because a paper regarding these developments will eventually be released. He didn't specify to me what kind of paper it will be, but it's very likely that weights and measurements of this understudied population will be included.

He told me that we will be getting new camera trap footage not only from La Aurora but from Hato Barley and the Encanto de Guanapalo by the end of year, as stated before in a different thread here. Which means that we will be able to get glimpse of Llanos populations in different reserves.

It's important to keep in mind that while the jaguar from the Venezuela Llanos are under extreme hunting pressure (not all the poaching incidents are reported to the police and only the few ones that go viral on social media end up in prosecution), the ones in the Colombian side have started to flourish. The government is involved in upholding regulations to create corridors through the country to facilitate the genetic flow of different populations, and many ranch owners  have changed their attitudes towards big cats, now there is a push to preserve them in their hatos in order to build tourism into the area. 

The work that Panthera is doing has allowed for all of these developments in jaguar conservation to take place. The anti depredatory measures taken in place have allowed ranchers to keep their lifestock away from danger, and strong anti-poaching laws have allowed certain areas to start to regain large volume of prey items (deer, peccary, etc.).

There are still issues in the Llanos region involving contamination of water thanks to fracking and petroleum extraction, so there's still work to do to ensure that the health of the biome is preserved, but so far the future for this population looks bright and I will be looking forward to reading with more depth about them in the upcoming papers that will be released by Panthera.

It's important to highlight that the great work performed by Hoogesteijn in the Llanos involved exclusively the Venezuelan side, and while it was extensive it didn't cover the entire biome (that is larger by a decent margin than the Pantanal). So there's still a lot to learn from this area, especially now that we know that the environmental factors that played a role in the morphology of jaguars of the past are different from the ones of the present, as can be seen in the Pantanal. Reply