People and Wildlife: Jaguars and livestock: living with the world's third largest cat

摘要: INTRODUCTION The jaguar is the largest cat in western hemisphere and one of most powerful recurring motifs Central South American cultures, past present (Saunders 1989, 1991). icon symbolized royalty was thought to protect people against all other malevolent forces (Benson 1998; Saunders Still, living jaguar, while considered a somewhat mystical being, always feared hunted as dangerous predator. However, unlike great cats, there have been no verified records man-eating jaguars, relatively few jaguars killing people. Hunters describe elusive secretive, stating that, when stalked, it often tries escape rather than fight (Singer 1916; Duguid 1932). Some hunters even captured without fear injury by chasing lassoing them (Fawcett 1954). real conflicts between humans are recent starting mid sixteenth century with introduction domestic livestock New World after European colonization (Arnold 1968). In Pantanal, where main economic activity cattle production, ranching industry cowboy culture, long-held traditional, fact only 250 years old (Wilcox 1992; Dolabella 2000). As contact increased, so did problem cattle. Now nearly 4 million region has ungulate biomass World, hotspots jaguar–livestock conflict.