Jaguar population in Argentina goes down drastically

8 May, 2007: The jaguar, which occupied over half of the Argentine territory two centuries ago, has been today pathetically limited to a few isolated places where they are becoming sitting duck for hunters.

The habitat of jaguars (panthera onca) once extended from the south-west United States to the northern parts of Argentina’s Patagonia region. Now, the species has lost 80% of its territory in the South American country.

Previously found in 18 provinces of Argentina, the jaguar is now seen only in six, according to Yaguareté Network, a non-governmental organisation.

The jaguar is the largest cat native to the Americas. Of the eight sub-species identified, the one found in Argentina – panthera onca palustris – is the largest.

According to Nicolás Lodeiro of the Yaguareté Network, there are no more than 300 Jaguars left in isolated and wild areas of Argentina. The north-eastern jungle of Misiones province is home to about 50 jaguars. The rest are in the north-western jungle of Yungas, and in the arid Chaco, Argentina’s central-north region.

The drastic reduction in the number of jaguars is because of the loss and degradation of their habitat as well as mindless hunting.

According to Claudio Bertonatti of the Argentina Wildlife Foundation, the jaguars have a chance if their environment is maintained. In Argentina, in the last 200 years, the area under forests shrunk from 160 million hectares to 33 million hectares.

Though the jaguar is relatively plentiful in places like the Amazon, it is included on the ‘Red List’ of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and also in Appendix I of the International Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Research has revealed that, in the early 19th century, 2,000 jaguar skins were exported from Buenos Aires annually.

The jaguar, explains Claudio Bertonatti of the Argentina Wildlife Foundation, can live in a variety of landscapes, from plains and savannahs to forests and jungles, but we have fewer and fewer natural areas. The remaining environments are few, and they function as small islands, leaving the species increasingly vulnerable.

When the endangered species is a herbivore, it is not a very serious situation, unlike in the case of jaguar, which is a large predator.

The jaguar feeds on other mammals and needs vast areas to hunt. If it leaves its habitat and tries to kill a dog or a horse, it is likely that the landowner will hunt and kill the jaguar, says Claudio Bertonatti.

He suggests some solutions to protect the endangered jaguar: consolidate the protected areas, create new ones and establish ecological corridors, control hunting, set up example-setting legal punishments to discourage killing of jaguars, and create awareness right from the school level.