Spanning southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico is a series of rugged “sky islands” mountains. In recent years a few jaguars have made headlines by showing up there, usually on backcountry wildlife cameras.
Yet not so long ago their cousins ranged even farther north. Jaguars are usually associated with the tropics of Central and South America, but historical records show they once prowled as far north as the South Rim of Grand Canyon.
Old photographs, government reports, and early settler accounts reveal more than just sightings of lone wanderers. Some accounts around the late 1800s included a young female near Grand Canyon Village; a female with a cub near Winslow; and two jaguars that were poisoned southeast of Flagstaff, likely a mated pair or siblings, or a mother with an older juvenile.
These sightings indicated that jaguars were capable of reproducing here. Northern Arizona provided the habitat and connectivity needed to support at least some adult pairs and young.
Jaguars likely reached these high plateaus by following mountain corridors that stretch north from Mexico, using sky islands and riparian routes as stepping stones. But the Grand Canyon probably formed a natural limit. Its vast cliffs, dry rims, and lack of continuous forest cover likely formed a barrier that prevented the cats from pushing farther north.
Predator control efforts, highways and fences, and, the border wall all make it more difficult for large predators to move around Arizona. But maybe sharing the jaguar’s historical legacy is a step in bringing them back someday.
This Earth Note was written by Octavio Alcocer Duran and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.
