Black Jungle Ghost Revealed.
Participate in the first ever documentary on Black Jaguars in the wild
By Ben Valks, Black Jaguar Foundation, bvalks@salesteam-me.com

So far it has been impossible. Nevertheless, the non-profit Black Jaguar Foundation has set its goal to reveal the myths of the Black Jungle Ghost: Documenting The Black Jaguar… in the wild! This magical, majestic, elusive creature has never been filmed in the wild before.

Preparations of this unique wildlife documentary are in full progress. We give you a short introduction, our goals and strategy and last but not least: an invitation for You to Participate!

Team Onça Preta:
Ben Valks, initiator of the non-profit Black Jaguar Foundation brought together ‘Team Onça Preta’ (obs.: Onça Preta means black jaguar in Portuguese): an international team of dedicated jaguar biologists, cameramen specialized in elusive cats, a production company passionate about endangered wildlife and soon… hopefully ‘You!’

In 2006 and 2007, Ben spent over 20 expeditions to learn, trace and photograph wild jaguars. During his quest he befriended with the Jaguar Conservation Fund and a base of working together on this challenging project was formed. Cameraman Massa Iijima joined in shortly, who has spent his life behind the lens capturing endangered and elusive animals on film. So did Kevin Augello and his production company ‘New Earth Films’, who produces a wide variety of nature documentaries and trains wildlife film crews before they venture out into the wild.

Goals of the Black Jaguar Foundation:
To produce the first ever real footage of wild black jaguars, living in their natural habitat. In most spotted jaguar documentaries, the viewer is tricked with semi-tame animals or animals in captivity that appear to ‘roam free’ in front of the camera. Not only do we want to reveal their existence in the wild and portray their myths. We also want to create public awareness of the danger the jaguar species faces due to men’s effort to take away ‘jaguar homeland’ through massive legal and illegal deforestation. Also we want to expose the ongoing illegal jaguar killings.

The scientific knowledge obtained during the 18-month tracking and filming stage will strongly contribute to jaguar conservation.

Winning strategy?
In-depth knowledge, experience, the latest high tech equipment, the right location, a passionate team, patience!, perseverance and finances. You can read more about our strategy on our website www.blackjaguar.nl.

Join us and become part of ‘Team Onça Preta’!
This project has not been created to raise net-profits. All passionate team members will contribute their time and high tech equipment for free! Providing already for half of the project costs, to fuel the remaining 50%, we cordially invite You to become Silver, Gold or Diamond member of Team Onça Preta. Also companies who like to demonstrate their Social Corporate Responsibility are invited to participate in talent, equipment and funds.

We look forward to stay in touch with you and perhaps will see you in one of the remote film locations in Brazil!

For full details on the project and how you can participate and sponsor this truly unique black jaguar project, visit www.blackjaguar.nl

Ben Valks for the Black Jaguar Foundation

Watch the promotion trailer for the black jaguar documentary here: http://www.youtube.com/v/1ojAgs-HUH0&hl=en_US&fs=1&

Habitat selection, genetics and population size of jaguars in fragmented and continuous environments in Brazil and Mexico, center and limit of the species’ distribution, respectively
By F. Palomares – ffpaloma@ebd.csic.es, C. Chávez and C. Keller

One of the biggest threats to biodiversity is the destruction, fragmentation and degradation of natural habitats, in many cases a consequence of human activities. Among the species most sensitive to this degradation are the large predators. In fragmented landscapes large predators have a higher probability to go extinct due to their low abundance, direct persecution by humans and due to the negative effect that isolation can have on the genetic health of their populations. Existing examples regarding the extinction process of large predators indicate that these species could be more vulnerable to habitat alterations along the limits of their distribution, rather than in the center, since populations at the distribution limits tend to inhabit less favorable habitats and occur at lower population densities. Therefore, the conservation of species needs an analytical scale that includes information from the center, as well as from the border areas of the respective species’ distribution.

The distribution of the jaguar (Panthera onca) has recently been reduced to somewhere around 40 to 60% of its original extent. On a global level, the species is considered Near Threatened and in some countries endangered with extinction. Currently, the northern limit of the species’ distribution is situated in Mexico, where it occupies fragmented tropical habitats and where populations are declining. The Brazilian Amazon (center of the species’ distribution) represents a distinct situation. It is the largest continuous primary tropical forest still existing on the planet, where the jaguar still has a high probability for long term survival.

In spite of the critical situation of the jaguar, it is one of the least studies large felid species. It is particularly difficult to study due to its large size, nocturnal habits, naturally low population densities and its tendency to inhabit forest habitats.

Using radio-telemetry via satellite (GPS), track censuses and molecular techniques, in a collaborative effort by the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC, Sevilla, Spain), the Institute for Ecology of the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, Mexico, D.F., Mexico), the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA, Manaus, Brazil), and the Jaguar Conservation Fund (JCF, Brazil), we intended to raise useful information of a general character for the global conservation of the jaguar based on its habitat requirements and genetic health, and develop population monitoring methods for tropical environments using non-invasive techniques. The objectives were: 1) Identify the general characteristics of the habitat used by the species in central (Brazil) and marginal (Mexico) areas within its distribution; 2) analyze microhabitat used by resident and dispersing individuals in areas under human influence; 3) estimate jaguar population size in habitats that are representative for the species using non-invasive techniques; and 4) examine the genetic health of populations situated in central and marginal areas within the species’ distribution. The study was carried out between the years of 2006 and 2009, and the collected data is currently being analyzed. First results will be published in the course of 2010.

Connection between Emas National Park and the Araguaia river is going to be re-established
By the Department for Communication of IBAMA

After more than three decades of physical isolation, Emas National Park (ENP), situated in the Cerrado of the state of Goiás, central Brazil, will once more be connected with the Araguaia river valley. The entrepreneur Milton Fries will set aside approximately 150 ha of the productive ground of his property, located at the border of ENP, for reforestation with native Cerrado species. This will allow the creation of a corridor of native habitat between the park and the river.

Read the entire article here (in Portuguese): http://amarnatureza.org.br/site/parque-nacional-das-emas-voltara-a-ter-conexao-com-rio-araguaia,39615/

Source: Amarnatureza.org.br

Announcement

The Jaguar Conservation Fund informs that from now on, its monthly newsletter “Jaguar News” will be edited quarterly. The newsletter will be published in the months of January, April, July and October. We take this opportunity to thank you once more for your interest in our newsletter. If you want to disseminate your work with the jaguar or a picture recording a special moment of a jaguar in the wild, please, send your material to jaguar@jaguar.org.br.