A healthy male jaguar captured on camera in Honduras’ Sierra del Merendón mountain range for the first time in a decade as part of high-tech monitoring and conservation efforts from Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization. (Panthera-Honduras via SWNS)
By Amy Reast
Incredible footage shows a "cloud jaguar" spotted in Honduran mountains — the first sighting in a decade.
Newly released images taken in early February show the young male jaguar in the Sierra del Merendón range.
It was recorded 10 years since their first sighting in the park as part of a wild cat conservation initiative operated by Panthera and partners in Honduras.
Jaguars are the third largest big cats in the world, after tigers and lions — and Honduras is one of just 18 countries where they live.
The "cloud" title refers to the jaguars living in high altitudes, with this one seen moving through dense jungle at around 7,200 feet above sea level.
The news of the sighting has been a cause for celebration for conservationists — as the big cats are threatened by deforestation of their homes, alongside poaching.
They are also at risk due to poaching of their prey reducing their food supply — including brocket deer, peccary and iguanas.
Jaguars have already lost 49% of their historic range in the Americas, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
(Panthera-Honduras via SWNS)
Honduras lost nearly 20% of its tree cover, equal to about 3.7 million acres between 2001 and 2024 alone, with agriculture and grazing land driving most of the destruction, according to CNN.
But in the Merendón range, the sighting indicates measures being taken to protect the species may well be working.
The Merendón range does not contain a resident population, and the young male was likely moving along the wildlife corridor from eastern Honduras to Guatemala or vice versa in search of females, speculated Franklin Castañeda, Honduras country director at Panthera.
Jaguar-Cusuco in 2016. (Panthera-Honduras via SWNS)
Castañeda said: "It seems we are seeing a recovery in large cats in general."
In 2021, after 17 years of surveys, a puma was detected by camera traps in Honduras' Sierra del Merendón mountain range for the first time.
Ocelots, jaguarundis and margays have also been sighted, meaning the area features all five species of wild cats known to exist in Honduras, reported CNN.
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