08/17/2026
Exciting news for borderlands jaguars, reviving hopes for their recovery: Multiple sightings of a female jaguar, named Adela by researchers, have been documented since April 2023 at Cuenca Los Ojos ranch in Sonora, just a couple miles south of the border. The New York Times broke the news today with an article featuring several of our partners, including Ganesh Marín at Borderlands Restoration Network, who captured the footage and had set up the camera network while a doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona. You can read the full article and see some of that footage of Adela here: https://ow.ly/1HtU50ZAH4q
Why this is game-changing news (and heart-breaking given the Trump administration’s plans for double border walls across the state): Since 1963, when a hunter killed a female jaguar in the White Mountains, no female jaguar has been seen in the wild in the U.S., and only lone male jaguars have made it into southern Arizona. They were declared an endangered species in the U.S. in 1997 and granted critical habitat, including where new wall is going up. Currently, a male jaguar named Cinco has been roaming southern Arizona. Meanwhile, the closest known breeding population has been 100 miles south of the border near Sahuaripa and the Northern Jaguar Reserve. But since females tend to stay close to where they were born, these sightings of Adela suggest she was likely born near Cuenca Los Ojos ranch, and that there’s a healthy population further north than previously thought.
“It totally deflates the narrative that female jaguars are over 100 miles to the south,” said Eamon Harrity, SIA’s Wildlife Program Manager. “They could be a day away from the U.S., or already here.”
Get the full scoop in the article, including how scientists identified Adela as female and how various organizations are working together to help these big cats recover throughout their historic range.
/ Cuenca Los Ojos / Borderlands Restoration Network
A lone male roves the Arizona mountains, and a female has been spotted just across the border in Mexico. The sightings raise hopes for the species, despite serious threats.
