Jaguar Conservation in Costa Rica

Overview

Assist in the protection of endangered Jaguars, whilst living and working in Costa Rica’s rainforest. Since the 1950's the population of Jaguars within the Americas has plummeted from over 400,000 to an estimated 14,000 now.

During your stay, you will not only contribute to the preservation of the elusive jaguar, but you will join a team contributing to the development and management of long-term wildlife conservation efforts along Central America’s Caribbean coast.



You will be searching for signs of jaguars and their prey species, by setting up remote cameras and surveying a 16-mile stretch of turtle nesting beach. Relaying data to the Costa Rican government and other prominent conservation organisations, our team aids the conservation effort through monitoring and tracking on Costa Rica’s beautiful Caribbean coast in the Tortuguero National Park.

Even though jaguar related research activities will be a main part of your activities, during your time you will gain a holistic understanding of the Costa Rican rainforest and its ecosystem by conducting important research on turtles (seasonal) and aquatic birds. You will receive additional training across a wide variety of subjects and gain a plethora of skills that will help you further your ability to operate professionally in the field.

Through unique and hands-on training you will have the opportunity to understand the rainforest and the variety of wildlife that depend on it’s future.

Highlights Include...

Getting the chance to go on this unique adventure in a Costa Rican National Park; enjoying life at the research station; learning about the wildlife and their habitat; seeing unique wildlife in marine and coastal rainforest environments including remote Caribbean beaches and tropical rainforest, seeing endemic and protected species; joining the research team to undertake research inside a protected area; exploring this wonderful Central American country.

Testimonial

"It’s every big cat lovers dream to be able to capture a glimpse of the elusive jaguar, and being here gets you so close to realizing that dream. The excitement of setting up jag cams, being able to ID these cats and witness new behaviours is truly addictive. Knowing these amazing cats are thriving here gives hope for future conservation."

Project Life

Carrying out the programs activities on the beaches and forests in the area, you will live on our base at Jalova.

With Tortuguero’s amazing scenery, incredible beaches and through dawn patrols, spectacular sunrises as the backdrop, you will hone your research skills collecting important data.

Through the processing, analysis, and recording of data, you will also get to grips with the technical aspects of field based research.

Making lifelong friends, and invaluable contacts in the research world, you will live on our small but comfortable base with fellow volunteers, forging a tight-knit group experience you will never forget.

Project Details

Habitat and food source degradation as a result of human activity are the major threats to jaguar populations. Through the correlation of jaguar prey species, jaguar feeding behaviour and population numbers, this project helps the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment to develop well rounded and consistent conservation policies.

You should also expect to be involved in further research projects according to the requirements on the ground at any time. This could include marine turtle monitoring (March – October) of nesting green, leatherback and hawksbills sea turtles; or bird monitoring and the research of 30 key aquatic species to collect long-term seasonal trend data on resident and migratory birds.

Due to the fact that we are working in a National Park, we need to have a special scientific permit to conduct research so you will be asked for some papers to be able to process it. It is a fairly simple process.

Jalova's short, mid, and long-term objectives:

All of our programs have short, mid and long-term objectives that fit with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This enables us to report on our collaborative impact across the world in a streamlined manner, measuring which UN SDGs we are making a substantial contribution to. Furthermore, this will help our local partners and communities measure and visualize their contribution to the UN SDGs.

Upon arrival to base, you will be educated about the history of the UN SDGs. You will learn about the specific goals of your location, the long-, mid- and short-term objectives, and also clarification of how your personal, shorter-term involvement contributes to these goals on a global level.

Our aim is to educate you on local and global issues, so that you continue to act as active global citizens after your program, helping to fulfill our mission of building a global network of people united by their passion to make a difference.

Learn about the long-term objectives you will be contributing to in Jalova:

1. Increase scientific knowledge of Tortuguero National Park
2. Increase awareness of GVI Jalova projects and the ecological value of the Tortuguero National Park
3. Build local capacity to support long-term conservation of biodiversity and sustainable community development in Costa Rica
4. Continue to minimize our environmental impact on Tortuguero National Park and raise awareness of environmental issues amongst volunteers and visitors

How this project makes a difference:

GVI’s data goes out to national and international organisations, is presented at international conferences, and is used in species and area management policy development.

GVI works with local partners such as Coastal Jaguar Conservation and Panthera.

Jaguar conservation efforts have been successful in recording new and useful data about jaguars and their habitats that is being used worldwide to restore declining jaguar populations.

GVI’s data goes out to national and international organisations, is presented at international conferences, and is used in species and area management policy development.

Jaguar conservation efforts have been successful in recording new and useful data about jaguars and their habitats that is being used worldwide to restore declining jaguar populations.