A wildlife photographer who uses trail cameras to capture images of mountain lions, bears, and more has something new to share with the world. He says he’s recorded a video of a jaguar in southern Arizona.
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Jason Miller says the video recorded the animal on December 30, 2023. When he checked the camera days later, he found the surprising video of the jaguar.
You can see the animal at the 3:28 mark (but it’s honestly worth watching the whole thing for all the other wildlife).
Unlike some recent videos that are up for debate, jaguars are found in Arizona. They’re just extremely rare and even rarer to capture on camera.
In his video, Miller says he tried for five years to get a jaguar on film, and although his cameras have caught footage of ocelots, which look like smaller versions of jaguars, he has never recorded a jaguar until now. Miller is careful not to disclose his exact location but says it’s just north of the Mexico border. The camera is in a canyon.
Miller has since repositioned the camera in hopes of capturing more videos of the jaguar.
The Center for Biological Diversity says a few documented jaguars are in the area, one of which was photographed earlier last year.
The animals are the third largest cats in the world, after tigers and lions. Jaguars once lived throughout the American Southwest. However, habitat loss and hunting by the government eliminated the species from the area.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says there are efforts to protect jaguars. Currently, there are more than 750,000 acres of federally protected critical habitat for U.S. jaguar recovery.
