Jaguar? They are rarely seen in Southern AZ and the Big Bend of Texas.

Where were you?

Ummm, I don't see the jaguar or anything in the first picture.

The other pictures are wonderful.

Thanks for the update with camera!

Hope you catch your illusive species!

Konrad

Oops..thought people knew this was a continuation from my last post "More July Birds+Critters"

To recap:
our neighbor, Michael K., was approached by a half grown black jaguar cub while hunting on our property in the fall of 2006. The cub was friendly, so was obviously a dumped illegal pet, and probably approached because it was hungry. Michael was startled, shot at it and it ran for its life.
We saw black cubs for sale at a swap meet 20 yrs ago, so know people sell them around here. It should nearly be mature now, since it would be about 4 1/2 yrs old.

Just this spring, another neighbor a few miles away spotted a black jaguar on his farm, so it's still alive.

We'd not seen its tracks since this march when we saw fresh tracks daily, along with jaguar scrapes, clawed trees, and smelly scent marks. Adult male jaguars can have territories 50 to 150 square miles so they take time to get around them.

At 2 a.m. Saturday, Aug 8, we camped in the yard as usual in our screen tent, and apparently the jaguar returned..the dogs suddenly went crazy and we heard the strangest, loudest noises. I went online and found some of what we heard on this link-scroll down to audio clip

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/jaguar.html

Besides the wails, grunts, rumbles, it also kept making explosive snorts..like an alarmed deer, except MUCH louder, more explosive, lower down, and dragged on and on until my bones vibrated. It seemed the sound wrapped around the tent, and I didn't know where to point the huge spotlight we keep next to us.

DuBois began taking a tape recorder with us when we camped, in case it returns, but it began raining at soon after, and the days we've camped we've heard nothing. I also hope to download jaguar sounds and play them next to my web cams on the hill to see if we can lure it in for a photo.

Photo of suspected jaguar tracks taken this spring, click on "full screen" to get slide show

http://picasaweb.google.com/rachelbro3/BigFootTracksScat#5317982295991557506

I can believe a released, illegal pet ... certainly. If it made it past the first few hungry weeks and learned to hunt, there's nothing to prevent it from becoming the apex predator in its area. Jaguars in Mexico eat turtles, frogs and other small creatures, although they really like deer. You probably have lots of deer for it and a lake.

Sound like these guys? The two smaller big Panthera cats - leopards and jaguars - produce that coughing roar and a huge array of other noises.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GupgVhTCw2Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RuEpSTYFos&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbXdeaVnnGI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH03FBC-xok&feature=related

Cougars wail, scream, yodel, hiss and chirp ... but it's all soprano. Bears growl and grunt, but they have that sheep-like overtone, almost baa-ing at times.

Clawed trees should be scratched several feet above the ground - they do a stretch/scratch move to get as high as possible.

http://www.arkive.org/jaguar/panthera-onca/video-12.html

They will spray bushes ... strong "cat" smell, muskier than domestic cat.

Have you called the Game and Fish Department?

I guess I'd better give more background on what's been going on.

I've been googling jaguars since this January when I saw 4 1/4" wide by 4" long tracks with a 36" stride in the snow near our pond. I bought a game cam but in Feb, tracks came up to the edge of the cam triggering point then went around the pond where I found a large scat surrounded by huge tracks in the grass, and deep 4" wide scratches on a dead tree a few yards away, with a very rank, skunky smell in the bushes in front of it.

It also began leaving scrapes in the trail, and no matter when I went up on the logging road on top of the hill, I'd find fresh tracks in the mud. I even found the huge, round tracks behind our horse shed. At that same time the dogs began going crazy every night, so we bought a 20 million candle SportSpot spotlight.

But about then, the tracks stopped appearing and dogs became quiet at night so I assumed it was off to inspect the rest of its 2-150 square mile territory, since it was almost mature.

I found no record of any man-eating jaguars; in fact jaguars routinely use the same trails as people, only attacking livestock when jungles are burned and nothing else is available.

When we heard all those weird sounds on Aug 8th, I googled audio clips but the only one that matched sounds we heard was the last half of the National Geographic audio clip I already posted-that of a wild jaguar patrolling its territory. The zoo clips didn't match.

We began taking a recorder out to the tent with us every night but heard nothing. But this Saturday night, soon after we got to the tent at 11:15 p.m., I heard a slow, rumbling growl, or purr, like a motor idling very slowly. The sound seemed to vibrate my bones. I tried in vain to waken DuBois.

About 30 minutes later there was a booming, explosive cough that shook the tent, and even startled DuBois awake. I shoved him and hissed "Jaguar!!" so he scrambled to hit "record" but there was only one more cough, then silence. He promptly went back to sleep.

At 3 a.m. there was another rumbling growl, or purr, this time from the direction of our front yard. It was like a motor on idle, and tickled my bones.

I knew from all the jaguar websites I'd visited that they usually cough and grunt instead of roar, but I've not yet found a sound clip of a cough. My only hope is that the thing will finally walk in front one of the game cams I have around my pond.

When I first saw the tracks I emailed photos to everyone involved with big cats to ask for an ID, but nobody answered. I also called to see if any cattle had been killed in a suspicious manner, but none had been reported.
I told authorities about the jaguar in May, but by then I was feeling protective of "my" jaguar, and now I actually miss it when I don't see its tracks around.

Those territorial calls and scent markings might be intended for us, since we're the ones who encroach on "his" territory.

If you find scat again, collect and freeze it. You can get DNA from it to ID the species and even the individual cat.

I'm more inclined to think puma than jaguar, just because it's way more possible that a young puma male has wandered south out of their known range (remember the one that was shot in an east-coast city?) than that an abandoned jaguar youngling made it through the winter. Track size is similar, habits are similar, many sounds are similar ... it's a cat.

Listen to these sounds - anything sound familiar? The screaming ones are females in heat. They have a prolonged grumbling growl when they aren't comfortable with their surroundings.

Here is a link that might be useful: puma sounds

The fact that you sighted a babe and the description of the sound makes me think it's not a puma.
But since you believe it's an escaped exotic pet....why not a Leopard instead of a jaguar?
And....as my late father in law always said..."Where there's one, there's two, always". Could there be 2?
And can jags mate with puma? I know lions and tigers and cross breed, but are all the big cats compatable, genetically?

Ummm, I've never seen anything in any of your track pictures, or the "Jaguar Photo" to even tell what you are photographing. I suggest you post these inappropriate pictures in a different website, along with the critter photos. How many pictures can we look at of a deer or raccoon. This is a bird watching website.

I know of few people more in tune with Nature than our Rachel. If she thinks it might be a jaguar, I'm inclined to believe her.
I, for one, enjoy her posts even if it's not always about birds.

Beck,

Obviously you are new to this forum, and perhaps to public forums.

1. Although you are anonymous and can quite easily be rude and snarky, don't be. It is very unpleasant to read, and this is a pleasant, friendly forum.

2. Many of us have been on this forum for over 20 years and know each other through this forum. Even if we don't know each other, we do not like it when anyone is rude to a member.

3. You don't tell Rachel what to post. Her posts are almost always related to birds, and always related to nature.

4. If you don't like what a member posts, don't read it.

5. Take 60 seconds and think before you hit submit message.

I agree with you Elly. Although I havent joined that long ago everytime I log on here I look forward to looking a rachel's posts because of the great variety of photos and story that is behind them

I too agree with Elly. There are plenty of other forums out there where people can be rude to each other. Let's keep this one friendly.

I'm not "new" to this forum and have been on public forums for years. In my opinion Blog material belongs on Blogs. I enjoy looking at the bird photos with an explanation, but I feel when you add people, animals, reptiles, lakes, swimming, farm animals, and family pictures it is no longer considered a bird watching forum. What if we all decided to post every aspect of our lives on this forum because we had a camera?
As far as this forum being friendly, you new members will find out soon enough how unfriendly it can become. All you have to do is admit you feed the birds.

Rachel is a valuable member to this forum and is very knowledgeable when is comes to birds or any other wildlife she has posted.
She has helped many of us over many years......no need to be rude!

Who has the right to say that "only birds" can be posted?
There is nothing wrong to post a little of your surrounding, this way we get some perspective outside of your nutshell.
We can then picture ourselves, the country side where all this birding or what have you takes place.
It also makes it more interesting and not seeing birds every single day.

Konrad

Rachel.....enjoyed your post!
Try this organization....they will get back to you...

www.easterncougar.org

On another note..two years ago my husband was in the woods before daylight preparing to deer hunt. He heard something that he couldn't explain. Didn't sound human he said, but compared it to a woman screaming. He said it was deafening, it was so loud. He was scared to death. There is a recording of the call of a female mountion lion in heat and he said that was exactly what it sounded like. We live in south central VA.

When I first saw those tracks last winter I did send the photos to every big cat website I could think of, with no results. Apparently, there aren't any track forums, and jaguars are now officially "extinct" in North America. This forum is full of nature experts, so I posted the track photos here next, but in the meantime I did my own research and got a game cam, but its been too wary to get in front of them.

For old timers, remember how the webmaster, Spike, would censor any post that was "off subject?"

Didn't mean to upset those who haven't been following my jaguar saga. For the purists, there were wild turkey photos on the cam also.
Since I also post photos to my blog and on Twitter, where the subjects aren't strictly segmented, I sometimes assume all people who are interested in birds are also interested in other creatures in the same environment.

But if the animal finally gets on camera, that would be the only wild jaguar in North America (at least, officially).
I did question the neighbor and he described the black kitten as having a "large, square" head, and short legs, and the tracks for jaguars are larger and shaped differently from both cougar and leopard tracks.

The sounds we heard were nothing like a cougar, which I have heard. They were like the sounds on the National Geographic clip I already posted, and the tracks, seen clearly in the mud, next to a ruler, are in the link I already posted as well. The jaguar is the largest North American cat, with 4 1/4" wide front tracks and a metapad that fills most of the track.

The game cam photo with the whiskers doesn't show what animal it is, just that something with long whiskers was messing with the camera the same night we heard the strange calls right outside our tent. I found tracks everywhere afterward, but none of them were clear, or in mud.

I for one have been enjoying reading these threads and am hoping you really do have a jaguar --and post clear photos on this forum.

Here, kitty kitty.

Claire

Is this forum really exists since 20 years?

I like Rachel and I know how close she is to nature and I admire it.

But, sorry, I don't believe in jaguar in Kentucky. I don't believe your friendly neighbor either.

I am also one who appreciate very much all the critters's pictures you showed so generously to us but may be Beck is right, those are probably a little off-subject. May be just put a link to your great and interesting journal Rachel would be fine.

Again, excuse my poor english,

Luc

Not to rain on your parade, but I wouldn't consider a feral jaguar to be "wild". Also, S Arizona has had jaguars ranging up from Mexico on and off for years. One was "accidentally" trapped recently, then released, had problems and was re-captured and ultimately euthanised (huge debate regarding this whole series of events). My point being that there are "officially" wild jaguars in the US.

I'm intrigued by your story and hope you manage to get your mystery cat on film.

-O-

"our neighbor, Michael K., was approached by a half grown black jaguar cub while hunting on our property in the fall of 2006."

Is that the same animal you talked about last year? Is that the same kid that we decided was hunting out of season (if anyone is curious, go back to the beginning of the year).

"it showed a strange close up photo of something with very long whiskers"

Please, show me the whiskers. I know that a lot of you guys like her, BUT please stop indulging her. I know that 99% of you guys see the the same number of big cats as I do.

Gracious! For sure I won't post about the jaguar any more on this forum-I was just telling about the sounds we heard while camping in the yard Aug 8th for the benefit of those who had tried to help me with the ID this winter. But I did some online research and found that not only were the tracks a perfect match, but that no other big cat has a similar sized track

The tracks were certainly real and not only my neighbor, but someone else mentioned seeing one on his farm a few miles from here to someone who worked for my husband. They just called them "black cougars" and the last guy said he and his next door neighbor were each missing a dog and was blaming it.

My 19 yr old neighbor was hunting on our land, but I don't think it was quite hunting season. Around here, people often hunt whenever they want. I had given him permission to hunt on our farm because he'd done some work for me, and the deer were becoming dangerous nuisances.

Here is one of the suspected jaguar tracks from this spring

2-28-09, near end of our logging road, suspected jaguar fresh track, lengthened second toe indicating a right front foot, 4" long, 4 1/4" wide

I already posted a link to an album with more photos of the tracks, scrapes, and claw marks on a tree.

Since we saw people selling black cubs (I don't know if they were leopards or jaguars) at a huge Ohio animal flea market about 20 years ago. People owning illegal pets is quite common around here.

As for whiskers, there is something very close to the camera in the first Cuddeback cam pic with long whiskers, possibly a big cat.

It was pretty hair-raising hearing those sounds Aug 8, so I thought I'd mention it but I'll certainly not tell anything about it here again!