Face to Face with a South American Jaguar in Colombia

ORIGINAL: Ecocentric (Time Blog)

By BRYAN WALSH | @bryanrwalsh | 

June 11, 2012

PANTHERA. A jaguar captured up close by a camera trap. The near threatened species is the only panther found in the Americas.

The near-threatened jaguar is the only big cat found in the Americas, and they’re usually quite shy. They have good reason—jaguars are hunted for their skins, and their jungle habitat is being cleared for agriculture. And now the cats face a new threat—growing plantations of oil palm, a commercial species that’s being raised chiefly for biofuels. Planting oil palm—which is becoming increasingly common in South America and Asia— involves clearing native jungle, and while the resulting plantations might resemble forests, the habitat is utterly changed. That can mean real trouble for the jaguars and other species that depend on the forest.

Now the conservation group Panthera has found photographic evidence that jaguars are willing to move through oil palm plantations—which could mean that the cats will be able to better adapt to the change in their environment. Panthera put camera traps—cameras that automatically photograph any animals that come near it—in an oil palm plantation in Colombia. You can see the results above: jaguars, both adults and cubs, living in the oil palm plantation. You can see more of the photos here.

A jaguar mother with her two cubs in a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera.

A jaguar cub grooms itself in a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera

"A jaguar cub inspects Panthera’s camera trap in a Colombian oil palm plantation while its sibling looks on. Photo: Panthera"

"A jaguar mother with her two cubs in a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"A jaguar cub grooms itself in a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"A jaguar mother with cub behind her in a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"A jaguar mother and cub in a Colombian oil palm plantation.. Photo: Panthera"

"A jaguar cub grooms itself in a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"A jaguar cub inspects Panthera's camera trap in a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"A male jaguar walking through a Colombian oil palm plantation. Until now, scientists did not have photographic evidence that jaguars were using oil palm plantations as passageways in the region. Photo: Panthera"

"A male jaguar walks past Panthera’s camera trap in a Colombian oil palm plantation."

"The same male jaguar walking past Panthera’s camera trap in a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera "

"A male jaguar walks through an oil palm plantation in Colombia’s Magdalena river valley. Photo: Panthera"

"The same male jaguar walks past a Panthera camera trap in a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"Male jaguar travelling through a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"A male jaguar walks through a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"Distant camera trap photo of a male jaguar in an oil palm plantation, Colombia. Photo: Panthera"

"A wild cougar walking through a Colombian oil palm plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"An ocelot walks past a Panthera camera trap in an oil palm plantation in Colombia’s Magdalena river valley. Along with jaguars, smaller wild cats and jaguar prey species were documented moving through this plantation. Photo: Panthera"

"A jaguarandi moving through an oil palm plantation, Colombia. Photo: Panthera"

"A cougar moving through an oil palm plantation, Colombia. Photo: Panthera"

As more and more native forest is lost, the challenge for conservationists is ensuring that endangered species still have enough room to roam. And for big cats that can be especially difficult—the species tends to have a large land range. Panthera is moving ahead with its Jaguar Corridor Initiative, which seeks to connect and protect jaguar populations from Mexico to Argentina. Colombia—where the jaguar photos were taken—is especially important, as the country forms the gateway for jaguars to move from Central America to South America.

Said Panthera Jaguar Program Executive Director Howard Quigley in a statement:

"Human development in the shape of large monocultures, like oil palm plantations, are drastically changing the face of the planet, creating refugees out of wild cats by breaking up their habitats and forcing them to live within smaller, often degraded, and more isolated pockets of land. Data collected through Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative are critical for oil palm growers, national policy makers and local governments in their decision making so they can account for the needs of jaguars across their range and minimize impacts on wildlife."

See more of Panthera’s jaguar photos here.

Bryan Walsh is a senior editor at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @bryanrwalsh. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.