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Camera Traps Get Accurate Jaguar Count NEW YORK, New York, August 6, 2002 (ENS) - A grid of remote camera traps set up along trails in Belize has allowed a husband and wife team of scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society to complete the first census of one of the world's most elusive big cats - the jaguar. "Up to this point, scientists have based their efforts as to where to protect jaguars largely on anecdotal evidence," said researcher Dr. Linde Ostro, who along with her husband Dr. Scott Silver, conducted the remote camera census.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) research team is based at New York's Bronx Zoo. They presented their findings at the annual meeting of the Society of Conservation Biology, which met in Canterbury, England in late July. The researchers set their camera traps for a population of jaguars living in the Cockscomb Reserve, a dense tropical rain forest in Belize. The Wildlife Conservation Society helped establish this area as the world's first jaguar reserve in 1986. Using a grid of remote camera traps set along game trails, Ostro and Silver followed a rigid statistical analysis to determine population density. They now estimate that 14 jaguars live in a 55 square mile area - a density of big cats comparable to some of the most productive tiger habitats in India. The camera trap methodology to census tigers was first used 10 years ago in India, when WCS conservationist Dr. Ullas Karanth used the cat's stripe pattern, unique to each individual, to count animals captured on film.
A jaguar's spotting pattern is also unique, which allowed Ostro and Silver to analyze how many animals moved through their study area. "The methodology can be used for any cat with a unique striping or spotting," Dr. Ostro said. "It's much more efficient than collaring individual animals, then tracking them for years." According to the WCS scientists, the new methodology can now be applied to other areas throughout the jaguar's sprawling range from Argentina to the southwestern United States. It can finally determine not only how many cats are out there, but more importantly, where conservationists should focus efforts to preserve jaguar populations. "With this new methodology, conservationists can focus often limited resources in the best areas," Ostro said. The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is located in southern Belize below the jagged peaks of the Maya Mountain's Cockscomb Range. In 1984, the area was declared a forest reserve with no hunting allowed to protect the large jaguar population and other resident cats - pumas, ocelots, margays and jagarundis. Wildlife such as Baird's tapirs, otters, coati, kinkajous, Brocket deer, white-lipped and collared peccaries, agouti, paca, anteaters and armadillos also live in the Cockscomb Basin. In 1986, a small part of the forest reserve was given sanctuary status. The sanctuary was expanded in 1990 to include the entire forest reserve, resulting in a totally protected area of over 100,000 acres. The camera trap jaguar research was funded in part by Jaguar North America as part of a five year $1 million dollar grant to WCS's Jaguar Conservation Program, which is working to save jaguars throughout their range. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved. |
One of 14 jaguars caught on film in Belize's Cockscomb Reserve by a remote camera in the first comprehensive census of these nocturnal cats. (Photo by J. Ostro courtesy 
Jaguar in the Cockscomb Basin Reserve (Photo courtesy 