"The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas and historically was found from southwestern/southeastern USA to central Argentina".......... "Today, jaguars are an endangered species throughout their natural habitat, and have almost been completely eliminated from the United States".............. "Outside of the Amazon, they are present in only 20 percent of their original range"............ "This drastic change is a result of human factors: habitat loss leading to reduced prey availability and persecution for cattle depredation........'To illustrate the challenge the Jaguar has of making a living, it has been determined that in the South American Country of Paraguay, mean home range size for Jaguars is 818 km2 (310 sq. miles) in the Dry Chaco and 237 km2 (90 sq. miles) in the Humid Chaco/Pantanal"..........."In fact, with Paraguay deforesting 800 hectares a day(1840 acres) for beef cattle grazing, the Dry Chaco region has the largest home ranges ever recorded for Jaguars..........If you eliminate the Forest, you eliminate the Jaguar's prey,,,,,,,,,,,,,,As a result, they have to range far and wide to find their preferred food items of Capbara,Tapirs, Peccaries and Caiman--invariably running into domestic cattle and getting killed by the Ranchers who tend those herds

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://phys.org/news/2018-03-problem-jaguars-space-western-paraguay.html&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoUMTI2NDUyODM0MjQ0NTI2MjM2MTYyGjNhZGZhMGEzMTRkNWEzYzc6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNF0RZ5bX0sKRx3z1OcRqsAIu6TlEA

The problem of jaguars and space in western Paraguay

March 21, 2018, De Gruyter

The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas and historically was found from southwestern USA to central Argentina. Today, jaguars are an endangered species throughout their natural habitat, and have almost been completely eliminated from the United States. The species has been lost from 50 percent of its original range, and outside of the Amazon it is present in only 20 percent of its original range. This drastic change is a result of human factors: habitat loss leading to reduced prey availability and persecution for cattle depredation.

PARAGUAY BORDERS BRAZIL, PERU, CHILE AND ARGENTINA

DRY CHACO REGION OF PARAGUAY IN DARK GREEN

An important component of jaguar conservation is understanding the species' spatial needs. Although there have been multiple studies of jaguar space use, there has been no such research in Paraguay up to now.

 AS SWAMPS ARE DRAINED, A CAIMAN MEAL IS NOT AS 
AVAILABLE TO JAGUARS

A recent study, published in the journal Mammalia, shows how researchers used GPS technology and new analytical techniques to produce the first rigorous estimates of jaguar spatial needs and movements in the Gran Chaco and Pantanal ecosystems of Paraguay.

PECCARIES ARE DISAPPEARING FROM THE GRAN CHACO
ECOSYSTEM, A PRIME PREY ITEM FOR JAGUARS

Western Paraguay is dominated by the Gran Chaco ecosystem, the second largest forest ecosystem in South America (divided into the semi-arid Dry Chaco and the wetter, seasonally flooded Humid Chaco), but also contains 5 percent of the Pantanal ecosystem. The researchers found that jaguars in the Dry Chaco had the largest home ranges ever recorded for jaguars, attributable to relatively low productivity of the ecosystem. Also, regardless of the ecosystem type, jaguar daily movements were large, on average greater than 15 km per day.

CAPYBARA'S DWINDLING IN NUMBERS--JAGUARS TURNING
TO DOMESTIC CATTLE FOR PROTEIN NEEDS

Since 2000, western Paraguay has undergone some of the highest deforestation rates in the world with about 800 hectares a day on average of natural habitat converted for cattle production; allowing Paraguay to be the world's 6th largest beef producer.

RANCHERS ARE CUTTING DOWN WESTERN PARAGUAY
FOR CATTLE RAISING, DISPLACING THE PREY OF THE
JAGUAR

This ongoing land use change, and the large spatial needs of jaguar, means that jaguars are increasingly affected by human activities and subjected to retaliatory killing for preying upon livestock. This was evident in the study as greater than 50 percent of the jaguars followed in the study were confirmed to have been killed by people.

JAGUARS OR CATTLE?............CAN THE TWO COEXIST?

There is an urgent need to mitigate jaguar-human conflict in the region. Less than 5 percent of western Paraguay is protected; in light of continuing deforestation, conservation efforts must take into account the amount of space needed by jaguars in the region. Consequently, the long-term conservation of the jaguar in western Paraguay depends upon private land and diminishing conflict with the continuing expanding ranching sector.

 Explore further: Brazil scientists warn on dwindling jaguar population

More information: Roy T. McBride et al. Space use and movement of jaguar (Panthera onca) in western Paraguay, Mammalia (2018). DOI: 10.1515/mammalia-2017-0040