Are There Jaguars in the US? Arizona Sightings Explained

Jaguars once lived in the US Southwest

The jaguar is a native American animal, not a visitor from the tropics. In the 1800s jaguars were recorded in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, California and coastal Louisiana, with scattered reports as far north as Colorado. Native American rock art in the Southwest shows large spotted cats, and a jaguar den with kittens was recorded in the Tehachapi Mountains of California before about 1860.

Settlers, ranchers and government predator-control programs killed jaguars wherever they found them. The species disappeared from California in the 1800s. The last confirmed jaguar in Texas was killed near Kingsville in 1948, and a female shot in the White Mountains of Arizona in 1963 is the last known female in the United States. Arizona banned jaguar hunting in 1969, but by then the cat was thought to be gone.

The return of wandering males

In 1996, two jaguars were photographed in southern Arizona within months of each other, one in the Peloncillo Mountains near the New Mexico border and one in the Baboquivari Mountains. Since then, trail cameras set up by researchers and conservation groups have recorded about eight different jaguars in the region, each identified by its unique pattern of rosettes.

Two became famous:

• Macho B was photographed many times in southern Arizona over several years, making him the best-known US jaguar of his time. He died in 2009, shortly after being captured and fitted with a tracking collar.
• El Jefe (“The Boss”) was first photographed in the Whetstone Mountains in November 2011 and then recorded repeatedly in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson from 2012 to 2015. For several years he was the only wild jaguar known to live in the US. He vanished from Arizona cameras in 2015 and was photographed again in central Sonora, Mexico, in 2021.

Other males have appeared since, including one previously unknown jaguar photographed in southern Arizona in 2024. Each sighting is checked by wildlife agencies before it is confirmed.

Where do US jaguars come from?

All recent US jaguars are thought to come from the northernmost breeding population in eastern Sonora, Mexico. Young males leave their mothers’ ranges and can travel very long distances looking for territory of their own. Females disperse much shorter distances, which is a major reason why none have settled in the US.

To reach Arizona, a jaguar must cross rugged mountains, desert valleys, highways and the international border. The “sky islands” of southeastern Arizona, isolated mountain ranges covered in oak and pine woodland, provide the cover and prey, such as white-tailed deer, javelinas and coati, that these cats need. Learn more about the species’ full range in where do jaguars live?

Critical habitat and the recovery plan

The jaguar is listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act; protection was formally extended to jaguars within the United States in 1997. After a court case, the US Fish and Wildlife Service designated critical habitat in 2014, covering roughly 309,000 hectares (764,000 acres) of mountains in southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, including the Santa Rita, Whetstone, Huachuca and Peloncillo Mountains.

A recovery plan published in 2019 treats the US as the northern edge of a recovery area centered in Mexico. Its main aim is to protect the core breeding populations in Sonora and the routes that link them to Arizona, rather than to reintroduce jaguars into the US. South of the border, the privately protected Northern Jaguar Reserve, created in 2003, safeguards about 23,000 hectares (56,000 acres) of jaguar habitat in Sonora.

The border wall and corridors

Because jaguars must travel north from Mexico, barriers along the border matter. Pedestrian walls built along parts of the Arizona–Sonora border, especially between 2019 and 2021, block animals that previously crossed through gaps or vehicle barriers. Conservation groups and scientists have warned that this could stop jaguars, as well as ocelots, black bears and pronghorn, from moving between the two countries.

Mexican highways that cut through jaguar range are another obstacle. Conservationists are pushing for wildlife crossings and for leaving open gaps in the wall in important corridors.

Will jaguars breed in the US again?

That is the big open question. A breeding population would need at least one female to settle north of the border, and there is no evidence of that so far. Some scientists argue that parts of central Arizona and New Mexico could support jaguars and have proposed reintroduction; others consider the habitat too dry and fragmented. For now, any jaguar in the US is a rare traveler.

The story resembles that of the cougar in the East, where young males also roam far beyond the breeding range; see are there mountain lions in the eastern US?

What to do if you see one

Seeing a jaguar in the US is extremely unlikely, and the few jaguars that visit the country are not known to have attacked anyone. If you are lucky enough to see one, keep your distance and never approach it. Report the sighting, ideally with a photo, to the Arizona Game and Fish Department or the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. Tracks and photos of US jaguars help scientists follow these rare visitors. In any emergency, call 911.