Rabinowitz - An indomitable beast: the remarkable journey of the jaguar

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An Indomitable Beast

An Indomitable Beast

The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar

Alan Rabinowitz

Washington | Covelo | London

Copyright 2014 Alan Rabinowitz

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 2000 M Street, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036

Island Press is a trademark of The Center for Resource Economics.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014933248

Keywords: Island Press, jaguar, corridor, connectivity, apex predator, big cat, Wildlife Conservation Society, Panthera, trophic cascade, were-jaguar, indigenous Mesoamerican cultures, indigenous South American cultures

This book is dedicated to my wife, Salisa, and my children, Alexander and Alana, who put up with all my years of work and travel so that I could help be the voice for the big cats.

Contents

Illustrations

Geologic time scale of the Cenozoic Era, sometimes called the Age of Mammals. (Adapted from Geological Society of America, www.geosociety.org/science/timescale/.)

The Dancing Jaguar at Copn, Honduras, part of the architectural and sculptural complex characteristic of the Classic Era of Maya civilization, which lasted from the fifth to the ninth centuries. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

Map of approximate time periods, locations, and distribution of major pre-Columbian civilizations. (Map by Lisanne Petracca, Panthera.)

Map depicting the state of our knowledge of jaguar abundance and distribution in 1987 in the United States, Mexico, and Central America. (Adapted from Swank and Teer, 1989, fig. 1.)

Map depicting the state of our knowledge of jaguar abundance and distribution in 1987 in South America. (Adapted from Swank and Teer, 1989, fig. 2.)

Maps illustrating the extent of knowledge regarding jaguar distribution, breeding populations, and point observations by experts attending the 1999 meeting in Mexico City. (Adapted from Sanderson et al., 2002, fig. 1.)

Known breeding populations of jaguars, called Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs), compiled from expert data in 1999 and a second survey of experts in 2006. Background colors represent different jaguar geographic regions (JGRs). (Map created and modified by Kathy Zeller and Lisanne Petracca, Panthera.)

Early map of the potential travel pathways or corridors connecting known Jaguar Conservation Units throughout the jaguars range. (Map by Kathy Zeller, Panthera.)

Landscape permeability for jaguar movement throughout the jaguars existing range. Dark green represents optimal travel routes, while lighter shades indicate barriers to jaguar movement. These data indicate that nearly 80 percent of the jaguars historic range still allows for potential jaguar movement. (Map by Kathy Zeller, Panthera.)

Jaguar traveling in daytime during the dry season at the edge of a cattle ranch along part of the jaguar corridor in the Pantanal, Brazil. (Photo by Paul Goldstein.)

Prioritization of Jaguar Conservation Units and the jaguar corridors to help direct limited manpower and financial resources to critical areas of the jaguar corridor. (Map by Kathy Zeller, Panthera.)

A jaguar crawling under a cattle fence during the night in order to move through a cattle ranch in the corridor. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

Country map of Colombia (2010) showing the highly threatened remaining jaguar corridors (in purple) linking the jaguar populations of Mexico and Central America to the rest of South America. (Map by Kathy Zeller, Panthera.)

Female jaguar (staring into camera) with subadult male offspring moving through an old oil palm plantation in the jaguar corridor of Colombia. (Camera-trap photo by Esteban Payan, Panthera.)

Early map (2007) showing a single, narrow corridor through Honduras, with a possible break north of San Pedro Sula in Honduras. (Map by Lisanne Petracca, Panthera.)

Known jaguar corridors through Honduras in 2010, after further ground-truthing, showing continuous connections and two possible corridor pathways between Guatemala and Nicaragua. (Map by Lisanne Petracca, Panthera.)

Representation of the grid system employed to ground-truth jaguar corridors between Jaguar Conservation Units. (Map by Lisanne Petracca, Panthera.)

Jaguar track found during ground-truthing survey along the northern coast of Honduras. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

A jaguar chased up into a tree before being sedated, examined, and radio-collared by our research team in Brazil. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

Examination and measurements of paws (width: 125 mm, or 5 inches) of sedated jaguar. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

Examination and measurements of dentition of sedated jaguar. Note broken upper right canine. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

Expansive landscape mosaic of the northern Pantanal of Brazil. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

Free-ranging cattle during the dry season on the vast open landscape of the Pantanal. Such open areas have traditionally been maintained by fire and cattle grazing. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

Jaguar visiting an old cattle kill on a ranch in Brazils Pantanal. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

Jaguar swimming across a river as it moves through its range to hunt caiman and capybara along the riverbank. (Photo by Steve Winter, Panthera.)

A Tolupan woman in Honduras, the first person to open up to me about her peoples beliefs regarding the Masters of Animals.