A Rare Sighting of the US's Rarest Big Cat
- Feb 21
- 2 min read
For only the fifth time in the last 15 years, America's rarest big cat has been sighted in the United States. Until the 19th century, jaguars were plentiful in the southwest, roaming as far east as Louisiana, and as far north as Colorado, but over the last hundred years, they have been entirely extirpated from the United States.
Only a handful of time since the turn of the century have lone jaguars been documented north of the Mexican border, so conservationists got an incredible surprise when a jaguar was captured on a trail camera in southern Arizona.
Although there are likely less than 10 jaguars in the United States at any given time, it's still an encouraging sign that they continue to venture north despite all the obstacles in their way.
The ant-eater that isn't an anteater
It looks like an anteater, acts like an anteater, and it most certainly eats ants. But the aardvark...is not an anteater at all. Aardvarks are nocturnal burrowing mammals and despite being affectionately called the African Anteater, they are actually more closely related to elephants and manatees than anteaters.
Staying safe in Sub-Saharan Africa, an environment rife with predators like lions, leopards and hyenas, is a constant battle for the aardvark. Their burrowing lifestyle helps to keep them safe, but it also has kept their lives from being fully understood. Scientists believe that aardvark populations are in decline, but they are so rarely observed, that it is difficult to say with certainty.
Learn about Ireland's Only Front-line Seal Rescue
There are around 10 to 15 thousand seals that call the coasts of Ireland home. And everywhere that seals go, threats from pollutants, boats, and hunting inevitably follow. But for the last 16 years, Seal Rescue Ireland has been rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing injured seals along the shores of the Emerald Isle.
As of 2026, they are the only seal rescue operating in all of Ireland, a critically important region to both gray and harbour seals. Front-line rescue and rehab efforts are crucial to ensuring that seals will continue to roam the shores of Ireland for generations to come.
Learn more about Seal Rescue Ireland here:
