By Kimberly
Hickok, Staff Writer | June 28, 2018 04:57pm ET
Based on the rosette patterns of this pelt, experts
believe it's Yo'oko, a jaguar thought to be one of only two in the U.S.
One of just three jaguars known to be living in the
U.S. was recently killed by poachers. Experts identified the jaguar's pelt in a
recent photo and say it is Yo'oko, a male jaguar (Panthera onca) that was known to roam the Huachuca Mountains in
southern Arizona, the Arizona
Daily Star reported.
The rosette patterns on a jaguar's pelt are unique
to each individual, a trait that allowed officials with the Arizona Game and
Fish Department to identify Yo'oko's pelt in a photo sent to them from the
Tucson-based Northern Jaguar Project. The endangered carnivore had been
photographed near the Mexican border in Arizona several times in 2016 and 2017,
according to the Center
for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization focused on protecting
endangered species.
It's unclear when Yo'oko died or who killed him,
but the Arizona
Daily Star reported today (June 28) that he may have been killed by a
mountain lion hunter. A local rancher, Carlos Robles Elias, told the Arizona
Daily Star that he heard from a friend that the jaguar was trapped and killed
six months ago somewhere in Sonora, Mexico, near the U.S. border. [Photos:
Elusive Jaguars Take Center Stage]
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