IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Anleu, R.G.; Mcnab, R.B.; Polisar, J.; Ramos, V.H.; Moreira, J.; Ponce-Santizo, G.; Duchez, K.; Escobar, R.; Santos, A. | |
| Estado del Jaguar en Guatemala | |
| 2016 Book Chapter | |
Since pre-Hispanic times the jaguar (Panthera onca) has been an important element for human societies. For the Mayan culture the jaguar is balam, voice with which the Mayans have referred to the most powerful feline of the american continent and that at the same time is an image, a symbol, a mythical character, an emblem of power, an attribute of political power, rector of time, lord of the night and sovereign of the underworld (Valverde, 2004). The oldest stories about jaguars in Guatemala are found in the famous book Popol vuh, which is a compilation of several legends of the diverse ethnic groups that inhabited the south of Guatemala and part of Central America before the arrival of the Spaniards. The Natural History of the Kingdom of Guatemala (Ximenes, 1722) is the first reference about the jaguars in the country, after the arrival of the Spaniards. Despite its ecological and cultural importance, Guatemalan jaguars face serious challenges for their survival in the long term. The main threats are the illegal hunting of the species and its prey, forest fires and the destruction and transformation of habitat due to the expansion of agricultural and livestock activities in protected areas, community forests and other remnants of their habitat (Ramos et al., 2009). The designation of 33% of the national territory as a protected area of some kind was a great support to the efforts of conservation of the jaguar and its habitat in the country. One of these protected areas is the Maya Biosphere Reserve (RBM) in the northern region of Guatemala, which constitutes the most extensive continuous forest block in its system of protected areas (Conap, 2008). In this chapter we present a compilation and review of the available information on Guatemalan jaguars so far, as well as its historical and current distribution to define the status of the species in the country |
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