He was doing his farm work when he saw it: not one, but two. A pair of jaguarundis moving through the mountains, calm, as if the outside world did not exist. The problem is that that world does exist, and for decades there had not been a single official record of these felines in Colombia.
The jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) is considered one of the hardest animals to detect in the entire American continent. It is the size of a large domestic cat —between 4 and 8 kilos, up to 76 cm long— but has such a highly developed instinct for hiding that it can live right next to a community without anyone noticing. Uniform coat, short legs, elongated body: more like an otter than the feline it actually is. The species actively avoids human presence and prefers scrubland and denser vegetation. For someone to capture it on video, and as a pair, is a finding that drew the attention of scientists internationally.
What no one expected was the farmer’s reaction. When he was asked where exactly he had recorded the video, he refused to answer. Not out of distrust or indifference, but for the exact opposite reason: he knows that revealing the exact spot of the sighting could attract poachers. So the only map that exists is stored in his head. 🌿
