On July 30, Colombia celebrates National Wildlife Day, a date that commemorates the right to freedom and the care of all animals, especially those that are endangered or in captivity. To contribute to this goal, ISA, through its flagship sustainability program, Conexión Jaguar, has implemented since 2016 different actions such as afforestation, reforestation, and the establishment of sustainable agro-crops for biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and connectivity of natural habitats of wild species in Latin America.
Contribution to wildlife conservation
One of the main results of the implementation of Conexión Jaguar in Colombia, specifically in Cimitarra (Santander) and Tierralta (Córdoba), has been the recording in camera traps of four of the five feline species that currently inhabit the area of influence of the Program’s projects: the puma (Puma concolor), the jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi), the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) and the margay (Leopardus wiedii). Similarly, the Program’s cameras have sighted endangered species such as the cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) and the blue-billed curassow (Crax alberti).
The International Union for Conservation of Nature -IUCN-, highlights that there are only 6.000 cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus), a species that only inhabits the departments of Atlántico, Sucre, Córdoba, and the northern part of Antioquia, when it is estimated that about twenty years ago its population reached 30.000. Also, the blue-billed curassow (Crax alberti), present in the northeastern part of Colombia (Magdalena, Cesar, and Tolima), does not exceed 1.000 individuals.
Therefore, recording them in the photo-trapping cameras of the Conexión Jaguar Program is an extraordinary event and demonstrates that the protection of forests and the planting of native trees to generate the corridor is essential for the conservation of endangered species such as these.
Imagen jaguar (Panthera onca) y paujil de pico azul (Crax alberti)
Other species sighted by the Conexión Jaguar Program
In addition to the species already mentioned, the cameras of the Conexión Jaguar Program have recorded, among others, armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus), a solitary animal that is most active at night; anteaters (Tamandua Mexicana), a species that feeds on termites, bees and ants; gray-necked wood rails (Aramides cajaneus), a furtive bird, distrustful and difficult to see, but can often be heard; macaques (Cebus albifrons), a diurnal and arboreal species that lives in groups of 7 to 30 individuals; foxes (Cerdocyon thous), an omnivorous species that feeds on fruits, vertebrates, insects, amphibians, crustaceans, birds and carrion; and lowland pacas (Cuniculus paca), whose situation in Colombia is serious because their natural populations are dwindling to such an extent that they are likely to disappear completely in many regions where they were once abundant.
Some representative wildlife figures
Colombia ranks first in number of amphibian and palm species, and second in diversity of butterfly species. According to figures from the Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, the country has 1.921 species of birds, 492 species of mammals, 537 species of reptiles, 803 species of amphibians, 1.435 species of fish and 22.840 species of plants.
