MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s population of wild jaguars has grown 20 per cent in the past eight years, according to a study released on Thursday, a bit of good news for an iconic species whose numbers have been declining.

There are an estimated 4,800 jaguars in Mexico, found the study, carried out by a consortium of institutions and academics with remotely activated cameras triggered by sensors.

That was a 20-per cent increase from the first edition of the study, carried out in 2010.

“The presence of jaguars ensures that these ecosystems function, by controlling the population of herbivores, and is also an indicator of the ecosystems’ good health, “said Heliot Zarza, vice president of the National Jaguar Conservation Alliance, in a statement released by the World Wildlife Fund.

The jaguar, the largest feline in the Americas, can weigh up to 100 kilos (220 pounds), though the ones found in Mexico rarely weigh more than 60 kilos.

The yellow, black-spotted cats are found in 18 countries across the Americas, 90 percent of them in the Amazon rainforest.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2018