CCI's Mexican Partner Photographs Rare Wild Cats

Posted: 23-Jun-2008; Updated: 24-Jun-2008

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One of several ocelots revealed in a trip camera survey of Mexican ranches. (Photo: Pronatura Noreste)

Three rare wild cat species were recently photographed on Mexican ranches by Pronatura Noreste, a Mexican conservation group and CCI partner. Motion sensor cameras employed on nine ranches between December 2007 and March 2008 revealed the presence of ocelots (Leopardus pardalis albescens), jaguars (Panthera onca) and jagaurundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi cacomitli)–findings that underscore the importance of private ranches in protecting these endangered cats. The good news may also offer new options for boosting the tiny U.S. ocelot population.

In south Texas, CCI is working with landowners to restore habitat corridors and write conservation plans that will benefit the federally and state endangered ocelot. However, due to its small population size and reduced genetic variability, it is likely that this lone U.S. population will also need an infusion of genetic material from outside the region to strengthen its ability to withstand diseases and improve its chances of survival.

The small Texas population of ocelots has limited genetic diversity. (Photo: Tom Smylie/USFWS)

So CCI is looking to Mexico and Pronatura Noreste to help study the northeastern population of Mexican ocelots and test their genetics, distribution and population density. If this population is genetically strong and large enough to withstand the removal of a few ocelots, Texas wildlife officials might have some options such as translocation—taking an ocelot from the Mexican population and introducing it into the U.S. population. Another option might be to re-vegetate habitat corridors between Texas and its southern neighbor state of Tamaulipas, but having the right information about the northeastern Mexican population is the first step.

Dense vegetation on Mexican ranches provides valuable habitat for endangered ocelots. (Photo: Pronatura Noreste)

The studies CCI funded in Mexico concentrated on nine private ranches in the state of Tamaulipas, located some 200 to 250 miles south of the Texas border and some 50 miles inland from the coast.  All of the participating ranchers are volunteering their land for the study and have expressed a desire to contribute to ocelot conservation. The ranches have good ocelot habitat, varying between a semi-arid type of thornscrub and a more tropical thornscrub–thicket-forming, thorny plant varieties that form dense cover for these secretive cats.  

Motion sensor cameras recorded ten different ocelots, three jaguars, and three jaguarundis, as well as two mountain lions. Researchers are writing up detailed reports of this successful study, while Pronatura Noreste is working to execute conservation agreements with the ranch owners. Potential followup studies could help to determine population density and distribution in this area, as well as reveal where possible vegetative corridors might boost northward dispersal of the ocelot.

Karen Chapman
Water and Wildlife Analyst
Center for Conservation Incentives
Environmental Defense Fund