When The Boss shows up, everyone usually gets tense. That is the human world. In the animal, quite the opposite. This is an apparition that generates hope.
The jaguar is one of the most enigmatic, mysterious and admired animals by the human race. National Geographic gives an accurate description:
“The jaguar is the largest feline in the Americas and the only one of the Panthera genus in the entire continent. An adult male jaguar can weigh more than 150 kilos and, proportionally, has the largest skull of any feline on the planet”.
It is not for less. The specialized site details that it has jaws capable of destroying the skull of an adult alligator. Lethal, fast, beautiful for its colors, among other attributes that are obvious, this specimen is related to the also stealthy panther.
But beyond its remarkable characteristics, why is the appearance of one of these on the southern border, between the US and Mexico, such an issue?
The danger of extinction that surrounds it explains it in part. In addition, like an immigrant, he circumvents the limit of what is forbidden for them, including part of the wall of more than 3 thousand kilometers that separates (or tries to do so) the two giants of North America.
Nobody had seen it in such detail for 7 years, but recently it made an appearance, generating news between continents.
The Boss: His Story on the Southern Border
the spanish newspaper The countryis one of the media that highlighted the presence of El Jefe a few days ago.
Its fame, however, dates back to 2011 when a hunter from Tucson (Arizona), one of its main predatory enemies, warned of its existence and unique superiority.
Since then it has been recognized by its pattern of black spots. The piece collected by the Spanish media refers to the use that the Mayans made of the fur of jaguars to turn it into clothing that denoted power. Those characteristic colors were for this empire an interpretation of stars from the sky.
“The specks have a unique pattern, they are like our fingerprint, so it is easy to identify them”said Carmina Gutiérrez, Research Coordinator of the Northern Jaguar Project.
Ten years after being seen by the hunter, The boss appeared in Mexican territory (2021).
Profauna is an association from the border state of Coahuila. It is an organization of a binational group dedicated to the protection of the specimen and the one in charge of photographing the sighting.
“For years, large jaguars have been registered on both sides of the border. Which means that the conservation work in the region is paying off.”affirms the director of the organization, Sergio Marines.
The long-awaited appearance of The Boss
It happened in early August in Sonora, a Mexican state that borders Arizona.
“We don’t know when he crossed, if he spent the whole year in Arizona or in Mexico. We also have no idea what points of the territory she traversed”explained Gutierrez, when reporting on the act of appearance of The boss, with the respective evidence recorded on video.
This jaguar, according to the experts who follow its trail, is long-lived, so there is enormous interest in knowing if it has left offspring since it was first seen 11 years ago (2011). His health is also a concern and hence the efforts to take care of him.
The animal moves at will along the border and its huge wall, designed to stop the passage of illegal migrants. But it seems that the huge structure does not go with him. He crosses it without the distinction that the human makes with others. The boss rules in that and other territories.
“But the reappearance of this specimen is good news, because it means that there is still a possibility that the fauna moves between one country and the other,” said Roberto A. Wolf, director of the Jaguar del Norte project.
The wall and its “devastating” effects for the jaguar
One of the types of jaguar hunting is almost extinct, but not expired, according to experts in these animals.
“Although poaching as a trophy almost does not exist anymore, because nobody is going to have the audacity to sell their skin in a market, they continue to be largely eliminated due to their supposed predation”according to Sergio Marines, director of Profauna.
Not only that. The threat comes in thousands of kilometers between two countries, with the border wall.
Miguel Gómez, administrator of the organization, considered a fauna sanctuary, says that the effects of this enormous structure are devastating, not only for human beings.
“It prevents the passage and movement of carnivorous animals such as bears, wolves, coyotes and various felines, including the puma and the jaguar”.
Although hunting has been considerably reduced, it is the food chain reduced by the existence of the wall, which sees the consequences of a migratory policy from one country to another, whose citizens take pains to cross.
“If there is a good balance of natural prey, the jaguar will focus on them and the cattle will remain protected”Marines added.
“In our reserve they feed on wild fauna, especially deer and wild boar, but they can feed on more than 150 species”, seconded by the coordinator of the Carmina Gutiérrez initiative. Hence, nature crashes with that reality of 10 meters high.
“The caliber of the border wall is already an absolute obstacle for the jaguar and its prey, such as pronghorn (American antelope) or deer. The foundation of the walls under the ground also affects different species of rodents, such as prairie dogs, and fragments the bird ecosystem, “said Gómez.
The Jaguar in the Americas
Jaguars, like El Jefe, are something of a legend in the Americas.
“The jaguar is distributed from northern Mexico to Argentina. In the southern United States there are some, but the population is almost extinct “assured Daniela Medellín, biologist of the Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation of Wild Fauna of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
In Mexico, the existence of 4,800 jaguars was calculated and, in total, 64 mil throughout the continent, according to the aforementioned laboratory.
However, there must be a sustained plan to prevent this feline, considered the third largest in the world, from disappearing.
“It is going to fall in the next 10 or 15 years; If at that time we do not have a solid and established conservation policy, and the populations do not have security, we could lose them”sentenced Medellin.
