Although the jaguar once roamed from the southwestern United States to southern Argentina, the range of the Western Hemisphere’s largest cat has shrunk to less than 50 percent of its historical size — and no permanent populations of this species exist north of the Mexican state of Sonora.Ancient Mayas and Aztecs believed the coat of the jaguar symbolized the night sky. On Earth, the jaguar’s spots, known as rosettes, make the cat difficult to see in the mottled shade of its jungle habitat — obscuring it from prey and predator alike. But its camouflage can’t always protect it. Occasionally, the jaguar’s carnivorous appetite has precipitated conflicts with ranchers, who hunt the cat to protect their livestock.The Nature Conservancy and partners are working between the Sierra Madre highlands and the U.S.-Mexico border to safeguard this species. Central to the Conservancy’s strategy is creating and strengthening federal reserves in Mexico that provide habitat for jaguars and offering ranchers financial incentives not to kill them. In the small town of Sahuaripa, for example, ranchers who allow cameras on their property are compensated for every photo of a wild cat taken. Payment ranges from $50 for a bobcat to $500 for a jaguar.