Moves like jaguar: wildlife monitoring project on British Army training area in Belize captures footage of courting jaguar pair.

Extremely rare footage of a pair of jaguars displaying mating behaviours has been captured in a training area used by the British Army in Belize, thanks to a wildlife monitoring project funded by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO).

The recording catches the big cats walking side by side before the male advances on the female and an aggressive tussle ensues. Despite the growls and bared teeth, the encounter was no fight, instead a typical, but rarely seen, mating ritual for jaguars. Two days later the same cameras were on hand to capture the couple taking a gentle stroll.

The remarkable footage was obtained as part of an ongoing project between DIO, the British Army Training and Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) and Panthera, an international charity dedicated to the conservation of big cats, to study the effects of British Army training in Belize on jungle wildlife.

Much of the British Army’s specialist jungle warfare training takes place in Belize, a small central American country which still has around 60% of its land under natural forest cover and hosts an abundance of wildlife.

The British Army maintains a permanent presence in Belize through BATSUB, which has a licence to train up to 3,750 personnel a year across a network of both government and privately-owned land, alongside the Belize Defence Force and other foreign forces. Military training takes place across 500 square kilometres of jungle and includes survival training, foot patrols and small-arms live firing.

BATSUB is required by the Government of Belize to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment into the effects of the British Army’s presence on wildlife populations in the jungle areas used for training exercises. To fulfil this obligation, BATSUB and DIO have partnered with Panthera on a programme to systematically record wildlife and assess the effects of military training on mammalian species.

Richard Snow, Senior Environmental Adviser, Defence Infrastructure Organisation, said:

“It’s highly encouraging to be recording the presence of iconic species, such as the jaguar, as part of a scientific analysis to establish the impacts of British Army training on Belizean jungle wildlife. This exciting project is a testament to the fact that military training can be undertaken alongside the management of globally important species.

“We are committed to the stewardship of nature and wildlife across the broad range of environments in which our armed forces train, both in the UK and overseas. The close collaboration between DIO, BATSUB and Panthera in Belize is a critical part of British military operations in the country, and we look forward to working together well into the future.”

Emma Sanchez, Panthera Belize Country Coordinator, said:

“In celebrating International Jaguar Day today, it is fitting to highlight the success story of Belize – a country that serves as a critical home and thoroughfare for jaguars from Mexico to Argentina and is the regional jewel of jaguar conservation that supports Central America’s highest forest cover and some of the highest-recorded jaguar densities in the world.

“Partnerships like the Panthera-BATSUB alliance allow scientists to monitor the pulse of local jaguar populations, deter opportunistic and direct hunting of jaguars and their prey, and provide a model for sustainable land use with wildlife and the Belizean people in mind.

“Let us hope that in a year’s time we capture on camera the cubs and future of this breeding pair to continue our celebration and conservation of this beloved wild cat.”

Besides jaguars, the project is helping to gather data about an array of wildlife in the jungle training areas, including the puma, ocelot, margay and jaguarundi. The cameras have also captured footage of the endangered Baird’s tapir, the largest land mammal of the neotropics, along with white tailed deer, grey foxes, collared peccary, river otters, and spotted skunks, among other species.

The project’s results are showing minimal short-term effects to the mammalian populations in the training areas as a result of military training. The research also indicates that, in a long-term capacity, historic use of the training areas by the military for live firing has had a negligible impact on species ecology and behaviour within these sites. Additionally, the results indicate that BATSUB’s presence in Belize may help to reduce illegal activities such as hunting and illegal logging within the training areas.

The project is enabling BATSUB to refine its management of military training to protect wildlife in the jungle training areas and maintain the British Army’s licence to operate in Belize.