Did you know that jaguars once lived in the US?
In fact, up until a few months ago, we had a jaguar living in Arizona.
100 years ago, the northern boundary of the jaguar’s range the Grand Canyon.
It is thought that before Europeans arrived, the jaguar’s range went as far north as Oregon and as far east as North Carolina.
Now, these are big cats, and all true big cats are in the genus Panthera–the same genus that includes lions, tigers, and leopards, which they superficially resemble. Jaguars are the only members of this genus in the New World. Hence, jaguars are the only true big cats in the Americas.
The jaguar is not having an easy time in North America. It is endangered in Mexico, which is why we have to protect the ones that wander into the United States.
Currently, conservation organization exists to protect the northern jaguar. It is called the Northern Jaguar Project.
It maintains a remote reserve in the Mexican state of Sonora, about 100 miles south of the Arizona border. If this population is protected, individuals could eventually work their way back into the United States.
