Is there a new jaguar in Arizona? Trail cameras detect a cat in the Huachuca Mountains
A new jaguar could be roaming the southern Arizona border.
A male jaguar was captured twice between March and May by trail cameras operated by Customs and Border Protection, according to observations in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's database.
The motion-activated cameras, which are not used for scientific purposes, went off somewhere in the Huachuca mountain range, west of Sierra Vista. It is not clear whether the jaguar in the photos is "Sombra," a jaguar detected in 2016 north of the Chiricahua mountains, or a new cat that hadn't been photographed yet.
All jaguars have unique spot patterns that allow specialists to distinguish one individual from the other. But the trail photos captured this year are "too blurry for spot analysis," notes from the federal wildlife agency said. There is no way of knowing if the new sighting is of a previously unknown male.
“These photos show that despite so many obstacles, jaguars continue to reestablish territory in the United States,” said Russ McSpadden, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. The Tucson-based nonprofit revealed the new entries in the USFWS database on Wednesday morning.
“This is a wonderful reminder that these big cats move great distances across the landscape," McSpadden said. "It drives home the importance of protecting connected habitat for these elusive, beautiful felines.”
Recent sightings trace movements of rare cats
At least seven jaguars have been photographed by trail cameras in the United States since 1996. The jaguar was first listed as an endangered species in 1972 and has been the subject of ongoing lawsuits over its status and its U.S. habitat.
In Arizona, three male jaguars have been detected in the past decade: El Jefe, or "The Boss," Yo'ko, the Yaqui word for jaguar, and Sombra, Spanish for "Shadow." Two of them have been detected also in Sonora.
Trail cameras captured El Jefe in the Santa Rita Mountains between 2012 and 2015. The big cat made a reappearance years later 100 miles south.
Yo'ko was the first jaguar photographed in the Huachuca Mountains in recent years. Like El Jefe, he also crossed the border to Sonora, but was killed by a rancher and found dead in 2018.
Sombra has been photographed multiple times north of the Chiricahua Mountains since 2016.
The new photographs could indicate there is at least a second male jaguar roaming in Arizona. But photo quality makes it hard to identify the individual.
Famous cat: Return of 'the boss': El Jefe, a jaguar that roamed Arizona, has turned up alive in Mexico
Jaguars move across the international border
Jaguars (Panthera onca) are distributed across 18 countries on the American continent. Arizona and New Mexico mark the farthest north the habitat range reaches. But hunting, and the loss of habitat from urban and agricultural development, nearly exterminated the jaguar population in the United States before the mid-20th century.
In Mexico, because of conservation efforts, the jaguar population has been growing, and is estimated at 4,800 individuals.
Jaguar sightings in Sonora suggest they are also breeding in the area, something that could support their recovery in Arizona.
Two male jaguars, El Bonito and Valerio, were recently detected by wildlife cameras set on the ranchlands of Cuenca Los Ojos in Sonora, Mexico.
Because of the shape of their head and body size it's clear they are juveniles, said Ganesh Marin, a University of Arizona doctoral candidate who recorded the sightings and is monitoring 97 motion-activated cameras in the area as part of a larger, multi-partner wildlife research project.
Juvenile jaguars don't roam very far from their place of origin, which makes researchers think that the mother must be close.
Imperiled cats: How recent jaguar sightings give experts hope for species recovery on both sides of the Arizona-Mexico border
In Arizona there have been no sightings of female jaguars. The last one known was killed in 1949 in Arizona, said Marin.
"Males are the ones that expand and disperse. This means that when a jaguar becomes an adult it has to find new territories. There are more records of jaguars in the United States and in the border with Mexico because they are exploring for new territories," Marin explained.
Female jaguars stay closer to their original territory and their expansion is considerably slower.
"At this point we only know that the population of jaguars (meaning males, females and cubs) is 100 miles south from the border, in the heart of Sonora," Marin said.
The photos of juvenile jaguars so close to the U.S. border could suggest the breeding range of the species might be expanding.
There is enough good habitat in Arizona and New Mexico to support a population of about 150 jaguars, suggests a recent scientific study that used USFW data.
Clara Migoya covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to clara.migoya@arizonarepublic.com.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Another jaguar is spotted near the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona
