Endangered Species Coalition 2015 Top 10 Report Nominating Form
General Information
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Organization & Web address
Contact name for species info
Address
Email & phone
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Communications staff contact name
Email & phone
Nominating Organizations: Please use this Column to Provide the Requested Information
Center for Biological Diversity, www.biologicaldiversity.org
Randy Serraglio and Michael Robinson
PO Box 710 Tucson AZ 85702-0710
rserraglio@biologicaldiversity.org, (520) 784-1504, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org, (575)
313-7017
Mike Stark
mstark@biologicaldiversity.org, (520) 345-5715
General Species Information
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Common name, genus, and species
Geographic range
Conservation status
Remaining population size
Jaguar, panthera onca
Southern U.S. south to NE Argentina
Endangered under ESA, “Near Threatened” under IUCN
Estimates vary due to extreme difficulty in surveying populations, ~150 in Northern
population (N. Mexico-S. United States)
Report Questions
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Do you have high-resolution photos that can be
used in the report?
Will you want printed reports? If so, how many?
If your species is selected, will you use the report
as a tool to organize around the species and/or
publicize its plight?
Yes
Yes, 250
Yes
Public Engagement Questions (Please explain why the species is interesting, why it matters, why decision-makers + the public should care.)0
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Interesting facts about the species
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Additional background information to complete
the species profile in the report
Largest cat in the Americas; third-largest in the world; known to prey on at least 87 different
species; extremely powerful animals that can drag large ungulates up trees and through
bodies of water; extremely strong bite force allows it to crack turtle shells and deliver massive
cranial trauma to mammals when hunting; uses a wide variety of habitats ranging, in the U.S.
Southwest, from semi-desert grasslands to high elevation coniferous forests.
Came from common ancestor with leopard during Pleistocene; crossed Bering land bridge and
evolved in North America before expanding its range to Central American and South America
(Simpson 1941 – full references for this and other citations available upon request); only cat
Please cite any substantiating scientific studies
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What are the most important messages that
should be communicated about this species'
decline? Please be sure to indicate your
organization’s lead message that you would like
to be included in the report.
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Is your NGO working to save the species? If yes,
how? (Optional)
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How can individuals help? Please be as specific
as possible.
Is there anything else that governments or
others could/should/are doing to save the
species?
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in the Americas that roars; revered in many indigenous cultures (Daggett and Henning 1974,
Pavlik 2003); there is only one jaguar known to exist in the U.S. at the moment
A centuries-long reduction in the distribution and numbers of jaguars continues today,
including in the northern portion of their range. Whereas jaguars formerly inhabited much of
the southern U.S., persecution and habitat loss led to extirpation: The last jaguars east of the
Mississippi were probably killed in the 1820s (Rafinesque 1832), the last one in California in
1860 (Strong 1926), the last in Texas in 1948 (Corpus Christi Caller-Times 1948), and the last
probable breeding population in the U.S., along the Mogollon Plateau in Arizona, wiped out in
the 1960s (Swank and Teer 1989); it is probable that all jaguars in the U.S. since the midsixties were born in Mexico. The northernmost-remaining population, variously guestimated
to number from 50 to 300 jaguars (Carrillo 2007, PVA 2014), inhabits Sonora, is isolated or
semi-isolated from other populations, and is thought to be suffering inbreeding depression,
resulting in low recruitment to the population (PVA 2014). That population as well as other
isolated populations to the east and south in Mexico, are at risk of extirpation as well.
Recovery must entail expanding distribution and connectivity between populations (Recovery
Outline for Jaguar 2012). Range expansion into extensive unoccupied jaguar habitat on the
Mogollon Plateau of Arizona and its eastern terminus in the Gila National Forest in New
Mexico would boost prospects for survival (Boydston & Lopez Gonzalez 2005), but the Fish
and Wildlife Service is developing a recovery plan that discounts this habitat (Recovery
Outline for Jaguar 2012), relies on optimistic assumptions for jaguars in Mexico (PVA 2014),
and discounts the importance of expanding the range and number of jaguars in the U.S.
(Recovery Outline and PVA) Additional jaguar migration to and survival in the Southwest is
imperiled by border infrastructure including the border wall across much of the
Sonora/Arizona line, sprawl development and the proposed Rosemont Mine intended in the
Santa Rita Mountains precisely where the sole jaguar currently known in the U.S. is living.
Yes, the Center has litigated numerous times over the past 25 years to get the jaguar listed
under the ESA, compel a recovery plan and critical habitat designation, and to protect
individual jaguars.
We can create a petition and sign-on letters that individuals and groups can add their names
to.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should develop a recovery plan that includes target
population numbers and distribution in the U.S., including on the Mogollon Plateau and Gila
National Forest. The Service should ban the proposed Rosemont Mine in jaguar critical
habitat; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security should not build any more infrastructure
Please cite any substantiating scientific studies
along the U.S.-Mexico border, and should dismantle the border wall at least in along key
migration areas, so as to at a minimum refrain from further severing connectivity, and at best
restore some of that connectivity, between U.S. habitat and the source population in Sonora,
Mexico
Criteria-specific Questions – Please feel free to answer N/A or “see above/below” as appropriate. Please cite any substantiating scientific studies.
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Describe the specific threat(s) to the species.
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Why is it in need of greater connectivity?
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Is its geographic range shifting?
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Is there concern around the cyclical/seasonal life
of the species and its interactions within
ecosystems?
Does it have isolated populations?
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The U.S.-Mexico border wall threatens to completely destroy the chances for jaguar recovery
in the U.S.; the Rosemont Mine, a proposed open pit copper mine located within designated
critical habitat, in the intersection of three major wildlife corridors and right in the middle of
the home territory of the only known U.S. jaguar at this time, threatens to badly compromise
chances for recovery in the U.S. The corruption of recovery planning through not considering
the Mogollon Plateau and importance of increasing distribution and numbers, leaves jaguars
with attenuated prospects for recovery in the U.S.
The jaguar population in Sonora must reverse its present downward trajectory and begin to
grow, and also must receive migrants from the Jalisco population to the south, in order to be
viable (PVA 2014). Prospects for growth in numbers and distribution in Sonora are limited,
whereas habitat in the Mogollon Plateau and Gila National Forest in the U.S. is extensive
(Hatten et al 2002, Menke and Hayes 2003, Robinson et al 2005, Boydston and Lopez
Gonzales 2005, Grigione et al 2009). Jaguars have large home ranges and must be able to
disperse long distances in order to maintain biological balance and genetic diversity in the
wild; connectivity between northernmost breeding population in Sonora, Mexico and
designated critical habitat in U.S. has already been compromised in some areas by border
security infrastructure (border wall). Additional connectivity to the best remaining habitat
(and north of the designated critical habitat) on the Mogollon Plateau and Gila National
Forest would enable significant growth of the northernmost population and greatly reduce
the chances that it, too, will be extirpated.
Yes, as indicated above. The jaguar has lost a minimum of 37% of its historic range and likely
more than 50%, including large portions of its range at both the northern and southern edges.
N/A
Yes, the northernmost breeding population in Sonora, Mexico is isolated or semi-isolated, as
is a population to its southeast in the Sierra Madre Oriental, and a population to its south in
Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa.
Please cite any substantiating scientific studies
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Is it at risk of low genetic diversity?
How urgent is the need for greater connectivity
in order to conserve this species? Does it face a
current, imminent, or future threat?
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Indicate if there is an associated political threat.
For instance, is this species being actively
attacked by an industry group or member of
Congress?
Judge’s Score for Severity and Extent of Threat:
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Yes, especially in the two northernmost populations.
Connectivity is one of the most urgent needs for conservation of jaguars, as habitat
fragmentation and consequent loss of population viability is a key reason for sharp declines in
many areas; northern jaguars are threatened by habitat fragmentation throughout Mexico
and the U.S.
Agricultural interests recently filed suit against the designation of critical habitat for jaguars in
New Mexico. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recovery planning process follows Arizona
Game and Fish Department’s lead in discounting U.S. habitats.
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Detail information on any social or economic
benefits the species provides—e.g., its value for
recreation or as a subject of scientific research.
(Optional)
Detail the ecological importance of the species
(e.g., is it a keystone species?).
Describe how the species could be considered an
"ambassador" or “flagship” species to enlist
public support for conservation.
Jaguars are a big draw for eco-tourists (see 30 below)
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The jaguar is an apex predator and keystone species; individuals occupy very large home
territories and a wide variety of habitats, so protection and conservation benefit many other
species
Jaguars are very charismatic megafauna, still occupying an almost mythical place in modern
human culture; when a jaguar named Macho B was killed near Tucson in 2009 (the only
known jaguar in the U.S. at the time), it generated a massive outpouring of media coverage
and public grief and concern
Judge’s Score for Importance of Species
Judge’s Final Score
Please submit to top10@endangered.org, and thank you for participating in the 2015 Top 10 Report.
Please cite any substantiating scientific studies