A jaguar is captured by a camera trap in Nicaragua's forest.
Panthera/GWC/MSU
CameraTrap Wildlife Photos
Big animals like to move. They need lots of space to find food and
suitable mates. But animals around the world are increasingly finding
it tough to get around as their habitats are being chopped up into small
patches of protected reserves.
Chinese pandas, Florida panthers, Indian tigers, Africa’s mountain gorillas, and now possibly jaguars in Central America are all getting swept into a biological black hole of shrinking spaces and smaller gene pools from which they can reproduce.
The latest battleground is in Nicaragua, where an environmental fight is brewing over a proposed deep-water shipping canal 170 miles across mountains, lakes and forests to link the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Researchers say the canal could also sever an important "genetic highway" for the big cats as they travel throughout Central America.
“Nicaragua is one of those countries that is important to us to
maintain that connectivity,” said Howard Quigley, director of the
jaguar program for Panthera, a New York based conservation group. “We’re
not opposed to development. We are opposed to development that doesn’t
take into account the jaguars in the long-term. In Nicaragua, the
challenge is the development and construction of this new canal.”
Over the past decade, conservation scientists have worked together with local groups and government officials to create the so-called “Jaguar Corridor” from Mexico all the way down to Brazil.
The corridor runs through verdant forests, as well as suburban areas, farms and around big hydroelectric dams. But the canal, proposed by a Chinese construction firm, would slice through prime jaguar habitat. It also makes it tougher for smaller populations of jaguars to connect and share genetic diversity.
This diversity is the only way to guarantee the survival of many large mammals.
In Florida, for example, a small population of Florida panthers has become an inbred, sickly group suffering from various ailments, including low sperm counts and kinked tails. Eight female panthers from Texas were introduced to the panthers south Florida habitat 20 years ago, and the population has risen to about 180, still well below the accepted minimal population of 500.
source
Chinese pandas, Florida panthers, Indian tigers, Africa’s mountain gorillas, and now possibly jaguars in Central America are all getting swept into a biological black hole of shrinking spaces and smaller gene pools from which they can reproduce.
The latest battleground is in Nicaragua, where an environmental fight is brewing over a proposed deep-water shipping canal 170 miles across mountains, lakes and forests to link the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Researchers say the canal could also sever an important "genetic highway" for the big cats as they travel throughout Central America.
News that the monarch butterfly has nearly vanished from the
planet means it may be be deemed an endangered species. What does that
mean?
Over the past decade, conservation scientists have worked together with local groups and government officials to create the so-called “Jaguar Corridor” from Mexico all the way down to Brazil.
The corridor runs through verdant forests, as well as suburban areas, farms and around big hydroelectric dams. But the canal, proposed by a Chinese construction firm, would slice through prime jaguar habitat. It also makes it tougher for smaller populations of jaguars to connect and share genetic diversity.
This diversity is the only way to guarantee the survival of many large mammals.
In Florida, for example, a small population of Florida panthers has become an inbred, sickly group suffering from various ailments, including low sperm counts and kinked tails. Eight female panthers from Texas were introduced to the panthers south Florida habitat 20 years ago, and the population has risen to about 180, still well below the accepted minimal population of 500.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment