Brazil scientists warn on dwindling jaguar population
Brazil scientists warn on dwindling jaguar population
By AFP
Jan 27, 2014 - 11 hours ago
The jaguar could soon become extinct in Brazil's tropical Atlantic forest, threatening the shrinking primitive forest itself, Brazilian scientists warned Monday.
A study by the Brazilian conservation authority Cenap indicated the adult jaguar population in the region may have fallen to just 250, "an 80 percent slide over the past 15 years."
And just a fifth of the remaining jaguars are of reproductive age, the study asserted.
The 'Mata Atlantica' or Atlantic forest ecosystem, home to unique species and comprising a variety of tropical forest habitats, has itself lost more than 90 percent of its original volume over the centuries.
It once made up more than 1.2 million square kilometers (463,300 square miles) -- roughly 25 percent of the Amazon region and around 15 percent of Brazilian territory.
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