Jaguars Back in the Southwest USA

Posted on October 10, 2006  Comments (3)

photo of jaguar at night in Arizona

Gone for Decades, Jaguars Steal Back to the Southwest

Jaguars are the largest native American cat. They once roamed much of the Southwest, but when ranchers took cattle to the region in the last century, the jaguars were trapped and hunted to extinction in the United States. The last known resident female was killed in 1963 near the Grand Canyon.

Jaguars were thought to be gone from the Southwest until Warner Glenn, a cattle rancher and mountain lion hunter, saw a live one in the Peloncillos Mountains, near the New Mexico border with Mexico, on March 7, 1996.

Story and cool photo by the NY Times. Related: Big Cats in AmericaThe Cat and a Black BearCat Family Tree

3 Responses to “Jaguars Back in the Southwest USA”

  1. CuriousCat: Far Eastern Leopard - Rarest Big Cat
    June 24th, 2007 @ 12:15 pm

    “Among the scientists’ main concerns is whether Far Eastern leopards, also known as Amur leopards, can continue to sustain their tiny, isolated population, or whether disease and inbreeding may eventually wipe out the cats…”

  2. USA Designates Large Areas of New Mexico and Arizona as Critical Habitat for Jaguars » Curious Cat Science Blog
    September 13th, 2014 @ 11:11 pm

    Like most cats, the jaguar is solitary outside mother–cub groups. Adults generally meet only to court and mate and carve out large territories for themselves…

  3. Mountain Lions Returning to the Midwest USA for the First Time in a Century » Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog
    December 3rd, 2015 @ 10:39 am

    […] Mountain Lion Foundation timeline – Backyard Wildlife: Mountain Lion – Jaguars Back in the Southwest USA (2006) – Big Cats in America (2004) – Snow Leopard Playing in the Snow in […]

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