Research overview: jaguar and puma coexistence with smallholders in Mesoamerica

This overview reviews human-felid conflict involving both jaguars and pumas across smallholder and indigenous landscapes of Central America, where the two cats overlap and complicate attribution of livestock losses. It synthesises studies of depredation on cattle, pigs, and poultry, the distinct ecological niches and conflict profiles of the two species, and community-based mitigation including improved corrals, husbandry, and education. The literature discusses how habitat fragmentation and the Mesoamerican corridor concentrate conflict, and how multi-species predator communities require integrated responses. The survey frames Mesoamerican coexistence as a multi-cat challenge, where effective mitigation must address jaguars and pumas together within the realities of small-scale agriculture and contested forest frontiers.