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Along Costa Rica's remote northwestern coast, a patchwork of former ranch lands have been reconnected into a single protected landscape.
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It's now one of the richest ecosystems in Central America.
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The reserve is off limits to outsiders.
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Reaching it means hours on rugged Backcountry roads.
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And even then, the road eventually runs out.
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Every single piece of equipment, food and in our case, camera gear has to be trekked in manually.
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Ray, this is it.
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Right here on this remote beach here on the Pacific Ocean is our destination.
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Oh, my gosh, it's gorgeous.
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We're here to meet up with two wildlife biologists who study one of the most revered animals in the Americas, the Jaguar.
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Few people today realize that Jaguars once roamed not only the forest of South America, but also range N to the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico.
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However, a century of habitat destruction has fragmented their world.
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Across half of their range, including all of the United States, they've disappeared.
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But within this rewilded habitat, they found a foothold.
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You see what I see?
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A building.
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Look at this.
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I think we made it, Peter.
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Finally.
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Hello, guys.
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Hi.
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We found you.
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Yeah.
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How was the hike?
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Long, hot and beautiful.
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Yeah.
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Here at this remote field station, Victor Montalvo and Dr.
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Catalina Science Bolanos focus on one critical question.
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How much uninterrupted wilderness do Jaguars need to survive?
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We have a project here that is assessing the population status of Jaguars.
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We are getting information that allow us to make conservation decisions.
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Recently, a few solitary Jaguars have temporarily journeyed north of the US border.
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How much protected habitat would they need to permanently return?
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The research here could provide clues if there are any Jaguars around.
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Have you all seen any?
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Let's get inside the house, and I'll show you something.
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OK.
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All right.
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We'll follow you.
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To understand how Jaguars use this regenerated landscape, Victor and Carolina's team must do something extraordinary.
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Capture them.
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Couple of days ago we captured a young female.
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She was in a good shape.
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Take a look at this.
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Wait, so I see the Jaguar is what?
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Tranquilized.
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Yes, Victor and Carolina capture local Jaguars to check their health and give them AGPS collar.
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Once released, these cats will essentially map their own territory, showing researchers exactly where they roam, hunt and survive.
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How many Jaguars are within 50 miles of this facility?
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So far we have identified 19 individuals.
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1919 Now after you've done all your examination, you've gathered all this data.
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Did she run back into the forest?
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Another key part of the project is a network of motion activated cameras hidden throughout this reserve.
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We have a statistical array in the whole area, about 50 cameras.
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The cameras allow Victor and Carolina to identify individual cats and estimate population density.
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Oh, I think I see the camera trap.
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Is that it over there?
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Oh, here we go.
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Right here, eh?
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Yeah.
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It has, like, a month of being here, so there could be a lot of Jaguars on there.
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Oh, well, we got to check it out.
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This is exciting.
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All right.
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Hello.
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There is a vulture, deer, a Jaguar.
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Oh my goodness, Jaguar.
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It's a big one.
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And it's just this way.
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It looks like occasionally these traps are a way to not only see a Jaguar, but to hear one as well.
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The sound of Jaguars is like a bull.
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You can hear like.
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Oh, good.
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There's another one.
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Oh, so this is a different Jaguar.
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You can tell immediately.
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The spots on a Jaguar are like fingerprints on a human.
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A jaguar's spots are called rosettes, rose shaped configurations that simulate the pattern of sunlight shifting through forest canopies.
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There's another one.
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You see.
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I do see it.
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This must make you all so happy to see the Jaguars on here every time it's something that you feel very good.
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That's terrific.
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I do too.
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Congratulations, both of you.
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Victor and Carolina's camera traps are revealing A hopeful trend.
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While Jaguar numbers have crashed in the US and across Central America, the population here is actually growing.
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But why?
