Jaguar spotted after decade

A camera trap photographed a young male jaguar in Honduras’ Sierra del Merendón on February 6, the first confirmed detection there in 10 years. (aol.com) The animal was recorded at about 2,200 meters, or roughly 7,200 feet, in high-altitude forest. Panthera’s Honduras team captured the image and identified the cat as a lone male that local conservationists call a “cloud jaguar.” (aol.com) A cloud forest is a wet mountain forest that stays wrapped in mist, and Sierra del Merendón runs across the Honduras-Guatemala border. Panthera said the range includes Cusuco National Park in Honduras and Sierra Caral in Guatemala, but habitat fragmentation has limited jaguar movement across the region. (panthera.org) Jaguars need large connected territories because they live at low densities and depend on prey moving through intact forest. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as Near Threatened globally and says threats intensified in much of its range after the 2008 assessment. (iucnredlist.org) In Honduras, Panthera said it has worked since 2009 to map a national jaguar corridor using interviews and genetic samples. The group said the country is now a backbone of that corridor and that it has expanded ranger teams, SMART patrols and acoustic monitoring in key areas. (panthera.org) The Merendón sighting comes as Honduras is trying to slow forest loss. Global Forest Watch says the country lost about 1.5 million hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2024, equal to 19% of its total, while CNN reported permanent agriculture and grazing were the main drivers. (globalforestwatch.org) (aol.com) The Honduran government launched its “Zero Deforestation by 2029” strategy in May 2024 and declared an environmental emergency for forests. Reporting on the plan said it authorized a military-backed push to retake protected areas from illegal logging, ranching and other activity, though some experts questioned whether enforcement alone would be enough. (sedena.gob.hn) (news.mongabay.com) The mountains where the jaguar appeared have had legal protection for decades. Reporting on the sighting said Honduras protected these cloud forests in 1987 because they are critical watersheds for nearby communities, and Operation Wallacea says Cusuco’s designation came from that same 1987 national push. (yahoo.com) (opwall.com) Panthera and its partners have added camera traps, ranger patrols, hidden acoustic monitors and prey reintroduction work in Honduras, including collared peccaries and green iguanas in some landscapes. For now, the new image shows that at least one jaguar is still moving through Merendón’s misty upper forest. (aol.com) (panthera.org)