Juan F. Charre-Medellín

Jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi) in Guanajuato, Mexico

Abstract We report the first record of the jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi) in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. This record expands the distribution of this species by 117 km to the west into the Mexican Central Plateau and increases the number of species of felids reported in Guanajuato to five.

First Records of Jaguar (Panthera onca) from the State of Michoacán, Mexico

Abstract In May 2010, we documented the presence of jaguars (Panthera onca) in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, by means of six photographs obtained with camera traps and a skull collected in the field. The photographs show an adult female and a subadult cub. These records were from tropical semi-deciduous forest in a transitional area between the Sierra Madre del Sur and the Pacific Coast. These records constitute the first evidence of the jaguar in Michoacán. Additional research is needed to confirm whether the records correspond to a resident population of jaguar rather than to wandering individuals. Resumen En mayo del 2010, documentamos la presencia de jaguares (Panthera onca) en el estado de Michoacán, México, a través de seis fotografías obtenidas con trampas cámara y un cráneo encontrado en el campo. Las fotografías enseñan a una hembra adulta y una cría subadulta. Estos registros se encontraron del bosque tropical subcaducifolio en una zona transicional entre la Sierra Madre del Sur y costa del Pacífico. Estos registros constituyen la primera evidencia del jaguar en Michoacán. Se requiere investigación adicional para confirmar si los registros corresponden a una población de jaguares residentes o a individuos errantes.

Use of remote cameras to evaluate ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) population parameters in seasonal tropical dry forests of central-western Mexico

Abstract The ocelot is one of the most studied felid species in the neotropics yet most of our current knowledge comes from tropical rain forests and protected areas. Therefore, we lack a comprehensive understanding on how the species abundance varies in terms of ecological parameters across its full distribution range. This is particularly true for the species population in the Northern Hemisphere, as data of ocelot populations occurring in tropical dry forests are scarce. In this study, we focused on: a) generating population data (density and sex ratios), based on camera-trapping, for ocelot occurring in the vast and understudied tropical dry forest of the western Pacific of Mexico. b) Comparing the variation in species abundance and density across its distribution range, including a larger set of studies from the Northern Hemisphere, contrasting parameters between rain forests and tropical seasonal ecosystems and re-examining the assumed relationship between precipitation and ocelot abundance. Overall, we identified 17 ocelots in our study sites and estimated an average density of 23.7 individuals (ind) per 100 km2 with a female to male ratio >1. No significant differences in ocelot density was found between seasonal tropical forests and rain forests studies (Wilcoxon test, W=71, p=0.7675). Moreover, we found no support for the relation between ocelot density and precipitation (only when restricting our analysis to rain forest data the fit of the regression model was close to be significant, R2=0.2463, p=0.07107). Our results indicate that tropical seasonal ecosystems and dry forest in particular, may present ocelot population with similar levels of abundance than tropical rain forests. We observed that precipitation is a poor predictor of ocelot abundance. In our study, we observed that overall local ecological factors (e.g. prey abundance and interspecific interactions) influenced the spatial and temporal abundance of ocelots.