Research overview: jaguarundi in agricultural and peri-urban mosaics

The jaguarundi, an unusually weasel-shaped small cat, ranges through scrub, forest edge and agricultural mosaics across Latin America, yet remains poorly studied. This overview synthesises camera-trap and occurrence research on how jaguarundis use human-modified landscapes including plantations, pasture edges and peri-urban brush, and their largely diurnal activity that distinguishes them from many sympatric felids. It examines records near the U.S.-Mexico border where the species is critically imperilled in Texas, the challenges of detecting a cryptic low-density cat, and the conservation uncertainty stemming from sparse data. The synthesis highlights the jaguarundi as a tolerant but understudied felid of human-influenced edges.