Costa Rica News – Tortuguero is most known for turtles but jaguars have been spotted there too.
The jaguars in the area prefer to be near the beach than in the mountains because of the availability of food.
While they used to prey on peccaries, deer and agouti, hunting has left them needing to adapt. They now eat sea turtles.
Additionally, the coast has given them a new habitat as much of the mountain habitat was degraded in banana and pineapple plantation expansions.
The availability of 30 miles of beach and four species of large sea turtles has attracted the jaguar population and now we need to find new strategies to protect them and ensure their conservation.
In order to design a conservation strategy, cameras were placed strategically throughout the park.
They found that there are 18 jaguars in the park. 17 of them were exclusively in the coastal region.
