Central America

The eighth installment of our Small Cat Spotlight focuses on two of the world’s small wild cats that bear a striking resemblance to one another: the northern oncilla and the southern tiger cat. For these two small cats that are native to the Americas, conservation is a priority. Read on to learn more about their ecology, anatomy and the threats to their survival.

Amaia Autor is a graduate student affiliated with Panthera. She conducts research on small cats in Costa Rica with our partners at the La Huella del Tigrillo Project. Her goal has been to capture and fit elusive oncillas (one of the 33 small cat species) with GPS collars to track them and study their behavior. Read on about the incredible discovery she made: a melanistic oncilla.

Months ago, we brought you the stories of Ben and F11-9, two jaguars that have been central to Panthera and the Belize Audubon Society’s jaguar study in Belize’s Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the world’s longest to date. But jaguars aren’t the only species we study in this rich ecosystem. Meet the ocelots M12-1 and F13-2, who are the parents of their own wild cat dynasty. Motion-activated cameras, or camera traps, give us a wealth of knowledge into the secretive lives of felines, including this ocelot pair.

Around the world, humans and carnivores have long struggled to coexist with one another. Hungry or wounded wildlife will sometimes prey on livestock, threatening farmers’ and ranchers’ livelihoods. For wild felids, canids and bears, this can lead to retaliation, resulting in the depletion of carnivore populations and the many benefits they bring to their ecosystems.

On Costa Rican highways, researchers estimate that four animals die every hour. 

It was a dark night as our car slowly cruised along the highway. In the trees on either side of the vehicle, untold wildlife roamed, peering out through the dark at us. They stared as our headlights stared as we moved further and further along the road. 

Wild cats are highly adaptable, but poaching for the illegal wildlife trade, habitat degradation and conflict with humans are threatening their survival. Seventy percent of the world’s big cat species are listed as Endangered (facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild) or Vulnerable (facing a high risk of extinction in the wild) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, while nearly 40 percent of the world’s 33 small cat species have the same classification.

“The pumas give you opportunities and even open doors.” — Sandra Rodríguez, Costa Rican farmer 

For many farmers living in Costa Rica, the threat of wildlife conflict is a daily reality. Frequently, hungry wild cats who have experienced ecosystem depletion and fragmentation as a result of human activity hunt livestock to avoid starvation. However, this has resulted in further escalating an already tense situation that oftentimes results in retaliatory killings against the hungry cats.  

The serene pattern of raindrops reverberates on a giant kapok tree while tiny droplets sift onto the shaded forest floor. Colorful macaws and playful spider monkeys frantically scurry about, seeking shelter from the gathering thunderstorm. At a distance, a jaguar remains watchful, observing the turmoil as the storm's crescendo reaches a thunderous roar. 

“We have to find a way to coexist,” Regional Director of Costa Rica and Mesoamerica Dr. Roberto Salom-Pérez explains, “and Panthera has proven there are many ways to do so.” While living alongside large carnivores like jaguars and pumas comes with real challenges, Panthera’s Wild Cat Conflict Response Unit addresses these threats. Meanwhile, our Fishing Cat Conservation Promotion Project is helping to mitigate retaliatory killings of fishing cats by raising awareness and engaging the local community.

In this blog, Panthera Belize Director Dr. Bart Harmsen illustrates the life of F11-9, a female jaguar in the Cockscomb Basin, a critical sanctuary for jaguars in Belize. Read on to discover her contributions to jaguar research as she nears her final days.