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Monthly Achievement Report, GVI Costa Rica Expedition, 10 November 2012

Connecting the Spots on a Unique Jaguar Population

The abundance of green turtles, , that nest on Tortuguero beach, which has been on the increase

since the 1980s, appears to be having an effect on the structure of the jaguar population. Turtles

move slowly across the sand and thus are easy prey for jaguars. During the turtle nesting season,

the beach appears to become a feasting ground, breaking down the usual social dynamics of the

worlds 3rd

largest feline and potentially drawing in some individuals whose usual range is centered

somewhere further inland.

Jaguars are more often than not solitary animals that may share parts of their range with a few

other individuals. The range-sharing individuals may be of either sex, and usually will only been

seen together if they are breeding or as cub and mother: juvenile jaguars may remain with the

mother for up to 2 years. In some parts of their range, adult males are seen together, but as of yet,

this is not considered as a common occurrence. Juvenile females will often establish a home range

that heavily overlaps that of their mothers.

Figure 1. Molly and Cub only a mile away from Jalova Base

GVI has been monitoring the jaguar population through the use of camera traps since our move to

Tortuguero in 2010. The project is still in its early stages but now, coupled with Stephanny

Arroyos project, in collaboration with Panthera , to monitor jaguar activity across the whole of

Tortuguero National Park. We are confident we are developing a better understanding of thesocial interactions of the jaguar population local to Jalova. Up until the last few months, GVI had

identified 10 individual jaguars in an area of no more than 10km2. Obviously, this area will only be

a small part of each of their ranges but to have seen such a high number may indicate a very dense

population of jaguars. Some of the individuals have only been captured a couple of times and are

likely to be transient, either looking to establish a range or to take advantage of the abundant

prey, i.e the nesting turtles. However, early analysis of our results in 2012 suggest we have at least

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