KarunaNews Story

In 2010, Gerardo Ceballos and a group of other researchers set out to answer a burning question: how many jaguars were there in Mexico? They knew there weren’t many. Hunting, loss of habitat, conflict with cattle ranchers and other issues had pushed the population to the brink of extinction. Ceballos and his team from the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation (ANCJ) thought there were maybe 1,000 jaguars across the country. They carried out the country’s first census of the animal to find out exactly how many there were. They found 4,100. “It was a great surprise, terrific news,” Ceballos said. “Obviously 4,000 means the species is still in danger of extinction, but 4,000 is a lot better than 1,000.” Fast-forward 15 years and the news has got even better. The group’s latest census found that in 2024 there were 5,326 jaguars in Mexico, a 30% increase compared with 2010. “The fact that the country has managed to maintain and increase its population over the last 14 years is extraordinary,” Ceballos said. “For me it’s great news for the country. Mexico and the world need good news.”