A Surprising Find Rabinowitz and his team haven’t just been


trapping and tracking jaguars. T ey’ve also scooped up jaguar droppings. T ey’ve snipped fur and drawn blood from the cats they trap. T ey’ve collected these samples from many jaguars in many countries. T ey use the droppings, fur, and blood to


test each jaguar’s DNA. T is genetic marker can tell scientists how—or if—any of these jaguars are related. Rabinowitz thinks he knows what the tests


will show. Many jaguars won’t be related. T e groups live too far apart to interbreed. T e DNA test results stun Rabinowitz.


T ey show that all the jaguars are related. Genetically, the ones in Mexico are just like the ones in Argentina. T ey’re all the same, even though they live thousands of kilometers apart.


Looking for Jaguar Paths T is discovery is big news. It changes the way


Rabinowitz thinks about jaguars’ habits. It tells him that jaguars don’t just stay in their protected patches. T ey move from patch to patch. Some must travel long distances. Now, he has a new mission. He wants to


find the paths that jaguars travel. For jaguars to survive, these paths need to be protected, too. To find these paths, he thinks like a jaguar.


He knows jaguars like to stay close to water. T ey travel through jungles and wetlands, but don’t climb high in the mountains. Rabinowitz and his team study maps. T ey


find 182 possible paths that jaguars might use to travel between diff erent patches. Some paths come close to towns and farms. T at worries the team. Jaguars don’t like open areas or being near people. Rabinowitz fears that the jaguars won’t use those parts of the paths.


8 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXTREME EXPLORER


Path Project For the path project to succeed, there can’t


be any gaps in it. So the team decides to investigate if they have reason to worry. T ey wonder how close jaguars would be willing to get to farms, roads, and other developed areas. To find answers, they set up camera traps


on the edges of farms and near towns. T ese cameras automatically take pictures when they sense an animal’s body heat. Click! A camera trap flashes. It’s on a farm


in Colombia where the owner has agreed to protect jaguars. T is farm is definitely not jaguar habitat. It’s too close to people. T e pictures show something exciting,


though. One young jaguar sniff s the camera. A second one wanders in the background. It’s a pair of cubs. More photos show the cubs with their mother. One photo shows a male on the prowl at night. T e photos prove that jaguars will travel


through some developed areas aſt er all. T at’s good news. It means the path project has a chance of succeeding. T at gives Rabinowitz hope. “We will save jaguars!” he says.


Wordwise


DNA: the genetic coding inside cells that determines how a living thing will look and function, and that is passed down from a living thing’s parents


population: the total number of a species within a defi ned area


territory: a geographic area that is occupied and defended by an animal


Learn more about eff orts to save big cats. Go to www.causeanuproar.com to learn about National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative. Learn about Rabinowitz’s organization at www.panthera.org.


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