In Pictures: Colombia’s jaguars gain from human cooperation

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LUIS BERNARDO CANO
Raul Tolosa, a small farmer and rancher, shows a photo of a jaguar taken with a camera trap on his land. He was one of the first farmers in the area to use electric fences to prevent jaguar attacks on his cattle.
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Colombia’s Guaviare region is a haven for hundreds of species of birds and an important archaeological site where cave paintings date back some 10,000 years. 

It’s also jaguar territory. Jaguars are the largest feline in Latin America and the third-largest in the world. In Colombia, jaguar habitats are under threat as forests shrink.

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

Wildlife conservation works best when it involves the community. In Colombia, an unusual partnership helps protect jaguar habitat through innovation and collaboration.

A jaguar corridor established by World Wide Fund for Nature Colombia connects the delicate ecosystems of this region: from Amazonian tropical forests to natural savannas.

The corridor is maintained as a community monitoring project involving farmers and former combatants from FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army). They’ve joined forces along the corridor to protect jaguars – and forests. 

Residents of Guaviare make their living in ecotourism, nontimber forest products, livestock, and agriculture. Their knowledge of the territory is crucial to conservation efforts. Trusting local knowledge is an essential step toward improving relations between humans and nature.

Early in the morning, as the sunlight emerges timidly over the savanna, mist moves through intertwining forests and pasture. Guaviare, a region in Colombia, is a haven for hundreds of species of birds and an important archaeological site where cave paintings date back some 10,000 years. 

It’s also jaguar territory. Jaguars are the largest feline in Latin America and the third-largest in the world. In Colombia, jaguar habitats are under threat as forests shrink.

A jaguar corridor established by World Wide Fund for Nature Colombia connects the delicate ecosystems of this region: from Amazonian tropical forests to natural savannas. The corridor is maintained as a community monitoring project involving farmers and former combatants from FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army). They’ve joined forces along the corridor to protect jaguars – and forests. 

LUIS BERNARDO CANO
An aerial view shows a forested landscape of the jaguar corridor in Guaviare, Colombia. Guaviare has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the Colombian Amazon.

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

Wildlife conservation works best when it involves the community. In Colombia, an unusual partnership helps protect jaguar habitat through innovation and collaboration.

Guaviare faces one of the highest deforestation rates in Colombia. The rate has intensified in recent years with the expansion of livestock grazing and agricultural production following the demobilization of guerrilla groups. As their habitats have diminished, jaguars have become more likely to attack farm animals. A goal of the initiative is to foster a more harmonious coexistence between jaguars and local communities through monitoring the species and using tools such as electric fences to protect livestock. 

Residents make their living in areas such as ecotourism, nontimber forest products, livestock, and agriculture. Their knowledge of the territory and the vast number of species that inhabit it are crucial to conservation efforts. Trusting local knowledge is an essential step toward improving relations between humans and nature.

LUIS BERNARDO CANO
A bioacoustics team from WWF Colombia records sounds of the jungle in the jaguar corridor.
LUIS BERNARDO CANO
The WWF Colombia monitoring team meets with locals from the Sabanas de la Fuga community in Guaviare, Colombia, to establish monitoring methods and answer questions.
LUIS BERNARDO CANO
Julio Ambeida and Cesar Garcia, former FARC combatants, help install a microphone to record noises in the jungle. The recordings will help identify other species inhabiting this territory.
LUIS BERNARDO CANO
A former combatant of the FARC-EP armed group, Fredy, does a crawl test to determine the location and angle of a camera trap. He and other ex-fighters are part of Manatu, an ecological tourism project supporting the jaguar corridor.
LUIS BERNARDO CANO
An aerial photo shows a deforested area. As the forest shrinks, jaguars have less wildlife prey and are more likely to attack domestic animals in nearby farming communities.

LUIS BERNARDO CANO
Electric fences are one way to improve the relationship between ranchers and jaguars.

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