A Cub Emerges from Forgotten Jaguar Territory

Deep in Sonora’s backcountry, a ranching community and a team of conservationists uncovered something nobody dared hope for. We take you behind the scenes, and talk to the team about their discovery and what it means for the recovery of the species.

The trail-camera was installed halfway down a deep canyon surrounded by thornscrub vegetation. The small spring flows here year-round, feeding a modest water trough built by members of the local community to provide for their livestock during the dry season. Unlike many other water sources in the region, this spring never dries up, making it a vital resource for both wildlife and cattle.

The permanent availability of water supports the growth of tall, mature trees with thick trunks and broad canopies that provide abundant shade. The vegetation is lush and dense, and the air is noticeably cooler than in the surrounding landscape, making it an ideal resting place—not only for hikers, but also for the many species of wildlife that come to drink.

The Shots That Changed Everything

When the card Juan Haro retrieved was delivered to our Northwest Mexico Program Director, Carlos Castillo, the remarkable sequence was seen for the first time.

The trail-camera had caught first a series of six photographs of a grey hawk, landing on the trough, then gliding down to a rock in the creek and flying away just before something unthinkable came into view. Across the following three images, a jaguar cub appears. First, deliberate and unhurried, on the very corner of the trough where the hawk had just been, then, having flushed the bird, it follows it down the creek with the third picture showing only the tip of its tail before it disappeared out of frame. The shots were grainy, the way trail camera photos always are, but the rosettes were unmistakable.

In the weeks prior, a pair had been discovered in the area, the first jaguars seen in over four decades. A male appeared first, which was thrilling but not unusual: male jaguars are known to wander far outside their range. The female was different. Females rarely venture far from home, and her presence meant something. These cats weren’t just passing through.

The cub that followed confirmed it: this was a mated pair. Wildlands Network staff gave them Indigenous Yaqui names: the male, Kawi, meaning Mountain; the female, Ania, which can mean world, sustain or protect, a nod to the next generation she was already raising; and their offspring, Naawa, meaning Root. Jaguars were not only living but breeding in a territory where none had been seen in four decades. One family had gone undetected. How many others had, too? The sightings were the result of months of vigilance and a growing partnership with local landowners who had opened their land to the work.

With 95% of Mexico’s land held privately or communally, that kind of partnership is at the heart of how Wildlands Network operates in the region. We work alongside ranching communities, establish voluntary conservation agreements, and model the corridors that connect remaining jaguar habitat across Sonora, Arizona, Chihuahua, and New Mexico. The discovery of a mated pair raises the stakes for all of it.

We sat down with Carlos Castillo to talk about the moment he and his team saw those images, and what it means for the work ahead.

Take us back to the moment you saw those images. What went through your mind?

Carlos Castillo: Well, when I first saw the images of the adult jaguars and then that of the cub, I had mixed feelings: on the one hand, great joy at confirming something we’d heard about but weren’t sure could be possible, given the limited information about this species in the area and its proximity to an ecosystem where there are no records of its presence; and on the other hand, concern about the threats these beautiful animals always face when they come into conflict with the productive activities of rural communities, particularly livestock farming, in addition to the challenges they face due to habitat fragmentation and the transportation routes connecting the region, which do not take into account these animals’ mobility needs.

Jaguars hadn’t been documented here in nearly 40 years. What does a breeding pair tell us about this landscape?

CC: The presence of these animals in this particular area may indicate, on the one hand, that they are more adaptable than we thought, and, on the other hand, that prolonged droughts have forced them to move to places with permanent water sources and low human population density.

What does the presence of a breeding pair in this region mean for the broader jaguar corridor stretching from Arizona to Argentina?

CC: The presence of an additional breeding pair in the state of Sonora (its northernmost range on the entire continent) indicates that these animals are finding ways to adapt to more inhospitable habitats where the availability of water sources is crucial. It also indicates that the herbivore populations that make up their diet are healthy. The presence of the jaguar, like that of other large carnivores, is always an indicator of a healthy ecosystem, but it also poses a significant challenge for its conservation.

Mexico’s protected areas cover only a fraction of the habitat jaguars need. How does private land conservation fill that gap?

CC: Due to the difficulty of establishing new protected areas through government decrees, voluntary conservation schemes have become a flexible and efficient tool for implementing conservation actions within Mexico’s complex mosaic of land tenure. Recent reforms to the state’s Environmental Law—informed and inspired by Wildlands Network, which incorporated Real Right of Conservation Contracts into Mexican legislation for the first time—are particularly relevant to the goal of connecting protected areas with one another and with areas that are highly important as biological corridors for key species, such as the jaguar.

This discovery only happened because local landowners opened their land. How do you build that trust?

CC: Our relationship with this community began in the early 1990s, and over the course of more than 30 years, we have maintained an intermittent relationship that culminated in the intention to establish a voluntary conservation area. When this plan was developed, we still had no information or records of the presence of jaguars. However, I was able to build a person-to-person relationship with some key members that gave them the confidence to share this information with us, along with the first image of a jaguar in the area. These relationships are built over many years by clearly explaining to people what our objectives are and how they, as a community, can benefit.

What would it mean for jaguar recovery if Wildlands Network could expand this work?

CC: Expanding our work to other areas with high potential to serve as important habitats for the jaguar and its local or regional movements would provide us with more information to guide land conservation efforts and raise awareness among rural communities about the importance of protecting this species.

Kawi, Ania, and Naawa were out there before anyone knew to look. It took years of relationship-building, countless camera checks, and the trust of local landowners to find them. And finding them is only the beginning. Built ranch by ranch, crossing by crossing, border by border, their growing corridor offers a blueprint for binational conservation. Continued investment in this landscape and the communities that share it with jaguars is how we secure their future.