It is not easy to see a jaguar. That is why we let the forest tell its story: 75 jaguars identified in Madre de Dios through camera trap monitoring
In Madre de Dios, the forest is not empty. It moves. It breathes. It watches. And within the shadows, the jaguar finds refuge. Detecting them is not easy, but jaguars leave traces behind. Today, technology helps us find them. Strategically installed throughout the forest, camera traps automatically record the movements of wildlife day and night, without interfering with or altering their natural behavior. Each image captured gives us the opportunity to tell the story of a jaguar.
Between 2023 and 2024, wildlife monitoring using camera traps made it possible to identify 75 jaguars in the Peruvian Amazon region of Madre de Dios. This is not just a number. It is a sign. Evidence that balance still exists in the forest. The jaguar’s spot patterns, known as “rosettes,” are unique and irreplaceable, functioning like fingerprints. In this way, each individual can be identified one by one. This information helps evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts and better understand the dynamics of Amazonian ecosystems.
In 2023, monitoring was conducted through 68 paired camera trap stations installed across five timber forest concessions and one conservation concession. In total, nearly 70,000 hectares of Amazon rainforest were placed under observation. In 2024, the effort expanded with the addition of new sampling stations in one timber concession, Brazil nut concessions grouped under organizations such as RONAP and CANDELA, and two Indigenous communities: Puerto Arturo and Boca Pariamanu. Altogether, 86 paired stations were added across more than 100,000 hectares.
© WWF-Perú
Jaguars move across vast protected territories, but also through productive and community-managed landscapes. Their presence does not recognize administrative boundaries: it connects landscapes. The jaguar is not only a forest inhabitant. It is also a regulator. As an apex predator, it controls prey populations and helps maintain ecosystem balance. Its presence is a sign of a healthy forest.
That is why the jaguar is considered an “umbrella species”: by protecting it, we also protect everything that depends on it. Conserving the jaguar means conserving far more than a single species. It means protecting the territory it needs to survive. And in doing so, countless other species and the ecological processes that sustain life in the Amazon are also safeguarded: water, climate, natural regeneration, and forest structure.
Camera trap monitoring goes beyond documentation. It generates key scientific knowledge to better understand jaguar population dynamics and strengthen conservation strategies across the Amazon. And with that knowledge comes the ability to make better decisions to protect key species and the forests that sustain them. Today, we know there are 75 jaguars. But more importantly, we know the forest still has the capacity to sustain them. And as long as that remains possible, the work continues.
© WWF-Perú
