Protecting Jaguars and Biodiversity in the Amazon

Not only do GVI staff and volunteers spend hours comprehensively sweeping forest trails and canals in Tortuguero National Park, we also live deep inside the parks southern boundary. Our 24-hour presence either on base or  travelling to town establishes a constant connection between us and unbelievably diverse ecosystems. Many of the species we see are ever present in our temporary home. Clay coloured robins Turdus grayi frolicking around our ‘garden’, American crocodiles Crocodylus acutus basking at the river mouth and mantled howler monkeys Allouata palliata alerting the world to the rising sun with a roar that would not be out of place in ‘Jurassic Park’. These animals all have one thing in common; Tortuguero National Park (TNP) falls within their normal distribution and they are abundant here. This does not mean that is not important to record their continued local existence as a change in abundance may signify significant alteration to the parks habitats. However, to record a species that is believed to be rare within the park or that has a normal range not believed to overlap with TNP, really does instil a great deal of excitement and brings home the fact that our research station can add new data to worldwide species databases. And we are in the process of building up a collection of such sightings.

Birds are an obvious contender for such recordings. Although they may have specific distributions mapped in scientific literature, their ability to transcend boundaries through flight enables them to migrate to locations their may have rarely frequented before; a situation which will likely become more prevalent as the effects of climate change begin to take their toll. So what have we seen here that we apparently shouldn’t have been so lucky to do so? Here is a few we have accumulated in 2012:

• Red-legged honeycreeper Cyanerpes cyaneus: A stunning dark blue bird with a glittering turquoise crown; common on the pacific coast but not usually recorded on the Caribbean lowlands.
• Yellow-throated Euphonia Euphonia hirundiacea: A pretty little blue and yellow bird who’s previously known range finishes north of Tortuguero.
• Shiny cowbird Molothrus bonariensis:  A blackbird which has a Costa Rican range that is limited to a small pocket in the south east corner of the country.

But it is not just birds of note that we have recorded; there is also a snake that stands out. To me it resembles a mini anaconda (a species I would give my left arm to see in the wild) and one that is also believed to be very rare in this area. It wasn’t discovered on any of the trails or along the waterways but under the staff house! Again illustrating how we can make a contribution to the scientific community by merely taking a few steps from our beds. I give you the orange bellied swamp snake Tretanorhinus nigroluteus!!

So what are we doing with this data? Firstly, all the data we collect goes directly to MINAET, who will hopefully be able to incorporate it into the park’s new management plan. We also report any rare bird sightings directly to Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica (AOCR). And finally, GVI we have begun to collaborate with I-naturalist and an official GVI Tortuguero project has been set up. I-naturalist is a worldwide database that allows experts and amateurs alike to upload photos of species they have seen all over the world; thus documenting a current and accurate distribution of all species in time and space. We are currently developing an extensive photo database of every species we have photographed in this area and aim to upload these to our project on i-naturalist on a regular basis.

The work GVI has accomplished studying jaguars in Tortuguero National Park has started to catch the attention of feline biologists and conservation organizations. Since moving to the Jalova field station in 2010 the frequency of jaguar captures on camera has steadily increased. Jaguars can be recognized and told apart by their unique rosette patterns on their fur, and to date GVI has identified 10 different individuals active in the 3 mile survey area. They have achieved this with over 500 nights of camera trapping and more than 1000 jaguar pictures collected and identified in their database. A scientific paper written by Diogo Verissimo, a previous GVI staff member, brought to the attention of the media and the scientific world the incredible and unique interactions between Jaguars and Marine Turtles on the Tortuguero beach. We believe this relationship is what is principally supporting the coexistence of such a large jaguar population in such a small area.

“Panthera was founded in 2006 with the singular mission of conserving the world’s 36 species of wild cats, it currently focuses its range-wide conservation strategies on the world’s largest, most imperilled cats, one of these being the jaguar, the largest cat in the Western Hemisphere”. The hard work of the GVI Costa Rica Expedition team has been repaid with the possibility of working alongside this leading organization. Roberto Salom-Perez, manager of Panthera’s Costa Rica jaguar projects, visited our Jalova base whilst working here with the BBC wildlife team back in September 2011. Nearly 8 months later, after a lot of paperwork and meetings the first signatures were laid on what will be a 3 year collaboration between Panthera and GVI.

Expectations are high on both sides. The GVI team will be helping Panthera field scientists as they try and explore the extent and distribution of the jaguar population in the whole of Tortuguero National Park. The small piece of the puzzle that we have been working on for the past two years may now fit into a larger framework that will help with the management and conservation of jaguars in Costa Rica. Expertise from the Panthera staff will help the GVI team come up with new methodologies and extend the GVI camera trapping project to cover a larger survey area. They will also provide the means to allow us to expand our study techniques to include scat collection and analysis, a development that could greatly aid our understanding of the local jaguar population.