Excellent article on Arizona jaguar

The Return of the Great American Jaguar | Science | Smithsonian

An interesting article on the semi-resident wild jaguar who inhabits the mountains just south of my city of Tucson (Arizona, USA). The painted mural shown in the article is about a mile from my home. The article is decidedly biased, painting the lead character as a victim and the US Fish and Wildlife Service and University of Arizona as unsympathetic and anti-environmental agencies. This all may be true, or maybe it is exaggerated. Interesting read nonetheless.

 

There are jaguars in Arizona!?

 

Yes. Historically, the range of the jaguar extended through South America, Central America, and the bottom half of North America. This includes Mexico and the states of the USA that border Mexico. In the 1700's and early 1800's they could be found in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and maybe even Louisiana. This is the far north edge of their range, so they were never numerous, but they were here.

They got hunted out, but since the 1990's lone male jaguars have occasionally come across the border into south Arizona.