El Jefe (jaguar) facts for kids
El Jefe in Arizona, 2013
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| Species | Jaguar |
|---|---|
| Sex | Male |
| Born | Likely Sierra Madre, northwest Mexico |
| Known for | Being one of the few wild jaguars to have been recently sighted in the U.S.A. |
| Residence | Mexico, North America |
El Jefe is a famous male jaguar who was seen living in Arizona, United States. He was first spotted in the Whetstone Mountains in November 2011. Later, he was photographed many times over several years in the Santa Rita Mountains.
For about four years, from 2011 to 2015, El Jefe was the only wild jaguar known to be living in the United States. Before him, the last known jaguar in Arizona, named Macho B, had died in 2009.
El Jefe's name means The Boss in Spanish. Students from Felizardo Valencia Middle School in Tucson chose his name in a contest. This contest was held by a group called the Center for Biological Diversity.
After September 2015, El Jefe was no longer seen in Arizona. People thought he had gone back to Mexico, where most jaguars live and have their families. This was proven true in August 2022. Conservation groups announced that El Jefe had been photographed in Sonora, Mexico, in November 2021.
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How El Jefe Was First Seen
El Jefe was first seen by a cougar hunter named Donnie Fenn and his 10-year-old daughter. This happened on November 19, 2011, in the Whetstone Mountains.
Fenn's hunting dogs chased the jaguar until it climbed a tree. Fenn took many pictures of the jaguar. He then contacted wildlife officials in Arizona.
At a news conference, Fenn explained what happened. He said the jaguar climbed down the first tree. It was then chased up a second tree after hurting some of his dogs. Fenn called off his dogs and left the area.
These photos were the first proof that a wild jaguar was living in the United States since Macho B died in 2009. Many news channels showed these pictures.
El Jefe in the Santa Rita Mountains
On December 20, 2012, officials announced exciting news. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, and the University of Arizona shared that new pictures of a jaguar had been taken.
These pictures were taken in late November 2012 in the Santa Rita Mountains. They used special camera-traps. Researchers confirmed that these pictures were of the same jaguar Fenn had photographed a year earlier.
Jaguars have unique spot patterns, like human fingerprints. This allowed researchers to be sure it was El Jefe. These camera-traps were part of a project called the Jaguar Survey and Monitoring Project.
Watching El Jefe Over Time
Since the Santa Rita Mountains photos of El Jefe came out in 2012, more pictures and videos have been released. Groups like the Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center at the University of Arizona and Conservation CATalyst shared these.
A video from Conservation CATalyst, showing El Jefe on different days, became very popular. It was released with the Center for Biological Diversity.
El Jefe was also tracked by a special dog named Mayke. Mayke was trained to find jaguar scat (poop). Mayke found the first jaguar scat in the United States that was confirmed by DNA. This helped researchers learn more about El Jefe.
El Jefe Returns to Mexico
On August 3, 2022, a group of conservation organizations called Borderlands Linkages Initiative made an announcement. They shared that one of their groups, Protección de la Fauna Mexicana, A.C. PROFAUNA, had taken two pictures of El Jefe.
These pictures were taken on November 27, 2021, in central Sonora, Mexico. It took several months to get the camera data and compare it to a database of known jaguars. By late July 2022, they confirmed it was El Jefe.
After August 4, news about El Jefe's return to Mexico spread quickly. Many news outlets in both Mexico and the U.S. reported on it.
Why El Jefe Is Important
El Jefe was very important because, for four years, he was the only confirmed jaguar living in the United States. Jaguars used to live all across the southwestern U.S. Before El Jefe, many thought jaguars had completely disappeared from the country.
In the past, jaguars lived in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, and New Mexico. There were even older records of them in what is now California and Colorado. But since the 1940s, they have mostly been found only in the southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico.
In 2010, a group called Defenders of Wildlife successfully sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This meant the Service had to create a plan to help jaguars recover. They also had to name special "critical habitat" areas for jaguars. The Santa Rita Mountains, where El Jefe lived, are now part of this important habitat.
The jaguars that live furthest north, like El Jefe, likely come from a group in eastern Sonora, Mexico. This group is called the Huásabas-Sahuaripa population. Many groups are working to protect these jaguars. One big effort is the Northern Jaguar Reserve. This is a private wildlife sanctuary that started in 2003 and has grown much larger since then.
To help jaguars recover, scientists are trying to understand how they travel from Mexico to the United States. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked the Wildlife Conservation Society to create a model. This model shows which areas jaguars are most likely to use as wildlife corridors. These corridors connect jaguar families in Mexico to places where jaguars have been seen in the U.S.
The goal is to have female jaguars come to the U.S. and have cubs. This would mean a new breeding population of jaguars in the United States, which is a big step for their recovery.
Challenges for Jaguars
El Jefe's presence in the Santa Rita Mountains made many groups speak out against certain building projects. These projects could harm the jaguars' habitat.
For example, the Rosemont Copper mining project is still being discussed. Also, a housing project called Villages at Vigneto is being challenged. Both could damage the critical habitat that jaguars need to survive.
The Mexico-United States barrier (the border wall) is another big problem. It makes it hard for female jaguars to travel from Mexico into Arizona. This barrier makes it difficult for jaguars to expand their territory and find new mates.
Major roads like Highway 2 and Highway 15 in Mexico also create obstacles. These highways are being expanded. Groups like Wildlands Network are asking for wildlife crossings to be built. These crossings would help jaguars and other animals safely cross the roads.
See also
- Big cat
- Juma the jaguar
