Rare animals caught on camera

A jaguar triggers a camera trap in an picture released January 27 as part of the first comprehensive survey of jaguar populations in the Ecuadorian Amazon rain forest. The same camera captured an extremely rare short-eared dog and pig-like wild white-lipped peccaries, among other animals.

Jaguar sightings are rare, except in faux-fur circles. But the ongoing camera-trap survey has yielded 75 new jaguar pictures since 2007.

Researcher Santiago Espinosa of the Wildlife Conservation Society set up heat-sensing cameras to capture shots of the jungle-dwelling carnivores, each of which can be identified by its unique spot pattern.

The survey aims to establish the jaguar's population before further development and oil exploration occurs in the region. Espinosa's preliminary results didn't count many jaguars: Fourteen were identified in a very remote area, and just three were found within heavily-trafficked Yasuni National Park.

Jaguar numbers fell sharply in the 1960s and 1970s, largely due to the fur trade. Though the wild jaguars once thrived throughout North and South America, they now live primarily in remote Amazon regions, where their populations are difficult to count.


A herd of piglike white-lipped peccaries triggers a jaguar-survey camera trap in a picture released January 27, 2009. Found in most Central and South America countries, these medium-size, omnivorous hog relatives are jaguar food--and people food, too.

The main threats to jaguars in Ecuador are habitat degradation and loss due to various human activities such as poaching for their highly prized fur, researcher Santiago Espinosa said in a statement.

But the jaguars must also compete with people for their prey, such as peccaries, which hunters sell in local markets. "If the prey species disappear, the jaguar will be gone," says Espinosa.



A rare short-eared dog is captured in a camera trap intended for jaguars in a picture released January 27, 2009. Little is known about these wild fox cousins, which until 1990 hadn't been seen in their natural habitats for two decades.



Researcher Santiago Espinosa is shown checking one of his camera traps in an undated photo taken during a jaguar survey in Ecuador and released on January 27, 2009.

Espinosa and his team, which includes several members of the Waorani Indian group, uses "passive" camera traps, triggered by an animal's body heat when the creature moves in front of the camera. The cameras must be placed precisely along a trail with signs of jaguar use, such as tree scarring or tracks.

Though extensive, this jaguar census didn't cover the entirety of Ecuador. The Wildlife Conservation Society, though, intends to count jaguars throughout the country, with the hope of someday getting an accurate count of jaguars in the wild.