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Two photos of a jaguar the groups say is the cat known around ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ as El Jefe, were captured in November 2021 by the Mexican nonprofit group Profauna, a conservation group announced in a news release Wednesday. It took some time after that to confirm that the photos were of El Jefe. But a biologist working for the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥-based Northern Jaguar Project said in the release that she’s convinced they’re of the same animal that was photographed near ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ from 2012 through 2015.

That conclusion came from visual analysis and software analysis of spot patterns of photographs, said Juan Carlos Bravo, Conservation Programs Director of the Wildlands Network. This would be the first time El Jefe’s location has been publicly confirmed since the cat was last photographed in the Santa Ritas.

The photos were “actually very distinctive, because over the years, the Northern Jaguar Project has accumulated so many photos of jaguars in the region,� said Bravo of the group that runs a major jaguar preserve in a sparsely populated area of Sonora, about 120 miles east of Hermosillo.

Bravo declined to disclose the mountain range in which the jaguar was photographed. He said only that the location was in Central Sonora, more than 120 miles south of the Santa Ritas and more than 100 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We’re not releasing that information right now for the sake of the jaguar, until the partner who got the picture feels comfortable about it,� Bravo said.

These photos demonstrate the ability of jaguars to repatriate their historic range, the Wildlands Network said in the news release. It’s at least the second adult male jaguar known to have been photographed on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border since 1996. The other was Macho B, who was photographed in 1996 and again in 2008 and 2009 before being captured and subsequently euthanized in the winter of 2009.

El Jefe, believed to be at least 12 years old, is the third oldest jaguar known to have lived in Sonora, conservationists said. Macho B lived at least 14 years. A third male, Zapatos, was photographed in 2008, 2010 and in 2018 and 2019 in various places. He was believed to be at least 13 at the time, but it’s not known if he’s still alive.

The new photos were taken as part of a coordinated project known as the Borderlands Linkages Initiative. The initiative involves eight conservation groups in the U.S. and Mexico, led by the the Wildlands Network, a Salt Lake City-based, international group. The initiative’s goal is to “protect the northernmost corridors of jaguar habitat through coordinated landowner outreach and wildlife monitoring,� the news release said.

The effort involves more than 150, motion-sensitive cameras employed to track wildlife across Sonora. Because the groups got so many photos from that many cameras, it took a considerable time to determine the two photos were of El Jefe, the groups said. Also, “the logistics of the places we’re monitoring are exceptionally difficult.� Bravo said.

Software used by the conservation groups compared these two photos with over 2,400 pictures of jaguars representing 176 individuals over 20 years, Bravo said.

“When our software showed a 100% match with El Jefe, I was skeptical, but after making a detailed visual revision, skepticism gave way to surprise and then excitement,â€� said Carmina Gutiérrez-González, research coordinator for the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥-based Northern Jaguar Project, in the news release. “There is no doubt this is the same animal photographed in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.â€�

The Star contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Game and Fish Department and two University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ wildlife researchers who have monitored jaguars to seek confirmation of the conservationists’ conclusions. Wildlife Service officials said they had no one available with expertise in reviewing jaguar spots.

Susan Malusa, a research biologist for UA’s Jaguar Project, said she and a team of experts will review the new photos.

Game and Fish looked at the photos and agreed that it is the same jaguar that roamed here, Mark Hart, a Game and Fish spokesman in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, said Wednesday afternoon.

El Jefe was first photographed in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ in November 2011 in the Whetstones near Benson by a mountain lion hunter. Later that month, the U.S. Border Patrol disclosed that one of its agents had briefly spotted a jaguar from a helicopter in the Santa Ritas in June 2011. It was later determined that was the same jaguar found in the Whetstones.

From 2012 through 2015, the same jaguar was repeatedly photographed in the Santa Ritas, at times within a half-mile of the site of the proposed Rosemont Mine and in federally designated jaguar critical habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service later determined in a formal biological opinion that the mine’s presence wouldn’t destroy or severely modify the jaguar critical habitat. That decision helped clear the way for the mine’s eventual approval by the U.S. Forest Service in 2017.

But U.S. District Judge James Soto overturned that decision in February 2021 and ordered the wildlife service to revisit that issue. That ruling added to delays in the project caused by a previous ruling by the same judge — a ruling upheld in May 2022 by the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Speaking of the jaguar’s ability to repatriate U.S. habitat from Mexico, Bravo said three gaps exist in the U.S.-Mexican border wall in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ through which a jaguar could possibly pass. One is in the Pajarito Mountains, leading to the Atascoasa and Baboquivari Mountains where Macho B was photographed regularly prior to his capture.

Another potential pathway would be in the Patagonia Mountains, lying south of the Santa Ritas. A third lies in the San Rafael Valley farther south, “assuming he could cross a vehicle barrier� at the U.S.-Mexican border in that area, Bravo said.

Based on what has been learned about how far jaguars can move, “it is within the realm of possibilityâ€� that El Jefe could someday return to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, Bravo said.

His Sonoran presence “means that jaguars in central Sonora can make it all the way to designated critical habitat in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. There’s no question about the capacity of individual animals to make that kind of travel,â€� Bravo said. Macho B also traveled extensively in Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and Sonora.

But “we don’t have enough information to say the likelihood that that will happen,� with El Jefe, he said.