The jaguar (Panthera onca, Linnaeus 1758) and
cougar (Puma concolor, Linnaeus 1771) are the largest cats in the Americas and
are listed as uniquely extinct in El Salvador, Central America. The contributory factors for this event are little understood and/or ignored. This
omission hampers conservation planning for declining big cat populations in
other countries. A thorough review and analysis of the literature reveals
important gaps that impede assessment of the factors for big cat extinction,
and also possible meliorative efforts. The evidence questions the commonly
blamed civil war and deforestation, and critically assesses a wider set of
factors mostly not linked to big cat extinction; dense human population, small
national territory, border porosity, cat adaptability to modified land cover
and the actual importance of connecting forested corridors.
No comments:
Post a Comment