Despite their status as mighty top-level predators roaming through the Amazonian jungle, populations of jaguar (Panthera onca) are in decline. The big cats are Near Threatened due to habitat loss and fragmentation, among other threats.

Effective conservation of jaguars is difficult. They live in dense jungle environments spanning multiple countries and their elusive nocturnal lifestyle makes it difficult to determine how many jaguars are present in a region, as well as what factors have the biggest impacts on their numbers.

Conservation relies on data—lots of data. So how do you protect a species that’s difficult to count, living in an environment that’s difficult to access?

Read the full article at the Australian Academy of Science.