The jaguar corridor in the Colombian amazon

The jaguar (panthera onca) is the protagonist of several ancient myths and legends. But this cat, considered creator, god and warrior, can become just a memory is the necessary measures to protect it are not taken. Due to the size of the Amazon basin and the vast expanses of land which the jaguar needs to establish viable populations, protecting the area as a whole is essential. Esteban Payán, Panthera Foundation’s coordinator in Colombia, is convinced of that. For this reason, the Panthera Foundation has partnered with the Ministry of Environment to create genetic corridors uniting the natural parks, because as islands they cannot guarantee the preservation of this great feline. The initiative is not Colombian. It goes from Mexico to northern Argentina. And along the way, the Amazon becomes a place where conservation is strategic.

Because of its size - is the largest cat in Latin America - and its status as a carnivore, the jaguar needs vast areas in good conditions, with appropriate amounts of fruits and plants to attract enough preys.

It is estimated that every three individuals (one male and two females) need an area of 100 km2. So although most of Colombian Amazon is in protected territories (such as natural reserves and indigenous areas), these special care lands are not enough to ensure the preservation of the species. "We must save 500 individuals together so that this population will survive 300 years", indicates Payán.

Jaguar corridor in the Americas

“According to genetic studies that we made, we realized that the jaguar is the same in different regions, as their size allows them to go many places, so the genetic flow has been continuous. The species only separate from each other when there is a barrier preventing them to reproduce”, he explains.

Payán says that this genetic corridor does not go against the human and productive development and does not depend only on national parks and private reserves, but it depends on keeping the jaguars alive and also on certain practices on agriculture, cattle-raising and the management of protected areas. “That is why it can be a continental corridor”, he says.

After studying different areas, Payán is convinced that the jaguars can indeed coexist with men and that they can live close to indigenous communities that hunt in a sustainable way. Among the risks that this species face are the exaggerated deterioration of their habitat and the excessive hunting of species that they use as food.

It is estimated that its habitat was reduced by 40% since the beginning of last century. But there are still significant areas of forest in Colombia, where the main populations persist.

The Amazon is the heart of the corridor and the distribution of the jaguar, but in Colombia this cat can also be found in places like the Pacific jungles, the medium Magdalena River, the north and east of Antioch. In these last three areas, the population is in critical condition, which means that it is possible that they will disappear in the next five years or less.

Density of the jaguar in the center of the amazon basin

“If there are preys and good coverage in the forest, you will find the jaguar”, says Payán, responsible for the first density study of the center of the Amazon basin (the Colombian part).

The analysis results indicate that in protected areas such as the Amacayacu Park (293,500 hectares, 65km away from Letícia, capital of the Amazonas department), the species is relatively well since the hunting of prey is sustainable because of low human density. When the survey was made (in 2006), there were 80 hunters in 3000km². Hunting is also limited by lack of infrastructure.

However, outside the park the animal faces a lot of threats. In the Brazil border: the devastation of its habitat due to mining activities; in Putumayo, Caquetá, Guaviare and Meta: the agricultural progress; in the border of Peru: the non-sustainable prey hunting, and in the north of Amazônia: the culture of coke.

The jaguar in the Brazilian Amazon

The jaguar faces similar risks in the Brazilian Amazon: destruction of the habitat and lack of preys due to hunting activities. However, it is believed that in this region the situation is not so serious when compared to other places such as the Atlantic Forest.

According to researcher Emiliano Esterci, coordinator of Projeto Iauaretê, unlike Colombia, there is no need for corridors in the Brazilian Amazon because the region is very large and very connected. “Our estimates regarding the number of jaguars, although they are not exact due to the lack of data, indicate that there are more than 10 thousand animals in stage of reproduction. This is not the total number of individuals, but the ones that are apt to reproduce. It is a good figure to guarantee the conservation of the species, but the problem is that the habitat is being lost very quickly”, he says.

It is believed that, the way things are going, in the next 40 years around 40% of the Amazonia’s habitat will be lost. “This means that although the population isn’t severely threatened in the region at the moment, it can be so in a very short time”, he concludes.

Besides the historical and cultural importance that it has for the natives, because of the relationship with all myths of creation, the species is important for the maintenance of the ecosystems, as its presence helps regulate the increment of its preys, specially herbivores and medium predators. That affects the composition of forests, the dynamic of the succession of plants, and the wealth and abundance of birds and small vertebrates.

Colombia is the home of six species of cats, five of them living in Amazonas The initiative of the jaguar corridor in Colombia includes different zones in the country. As part of the project, it was built a national map showing the jaguar locations with a study on the threats to biodiversity and another map showing the dispersion corridors of the jaguar through the American continent. The partnership with the Ministry of Environment was signed for 4 years, starting in 2010. The jaguar is the largest cat in Latin America and in the past they could be found from Mexico to the north of Argentina.