Commemorative Stone Markers
for the Endangered New Mexican Jaguar
Marble quarried in Belen, New Mexico will be used to create a
series of permanent markers that demarcate and illuminate the
hidden presence and history of one of North America’s most critically
endangered species. New Mexico's largest native cat, the jaguar (panthera onca),
once roamed much of the United States.
These majestic animals were exterminated over the last century and a half with an extremely small number surviving
to the present day, only in the Southwest region. Commemorative stone markers
will be situated at significant locations in New Mexico and Arizona including
along the Cimarron River in northern New Mexico (site of a historically
documented jaguar kill) and the Pajarito mountains of southern Arizona (site of
a highly publicized 2009 jaguar capture). Inscribed text and imagery on each
marble work, derived from unique recorded regional histories will examine the jaguar’s precarious ongoing struggle for survival in the United States.
