Branching Out | That’s an OceLOT of Data: Wildlife Camera Findings from the Atascosa Complex in the US-Mexico Borderlands

That’s an OceLOT of Data: Wildlife Camera Findings from the Atascosa Complex in the US-Mexico Borderlands

Grow your knowledge with BTA at Branching Out, our in-person lecture series! Each month brings a new topic about plants, wildlife, or nature.

The Atascosa Complex (ATC) in southern Arizona is a sky island with an important history providing critical habitat for jaguars and connecting wildlife across the US-Mexico border. Despite its importance, the ATC remains understudied compared to other corridors in the region. To fill this information gap, we deployed 50 wildlife cameras in variable habitats throughout Coronado National Forest lands for 18 months from April 2024 to November 2025. In the first 12 months, we accrued over 65,000 videos and detected 22 medium- and large-sized mammals. In June 2024, we captured on video the first ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) west of Interstate 19 in recorded history and the seventh ocelot known to the state of Arizona, extending the known habitat of ocelot in the US. In June and November 2024, we confirmed historical records of black bear (Ursus americanus) at three different sites in the ATC and proved residency with bears overwintering in the mountains. Black bears are endangered in Mexico. We also detected over 270 records of white-nosed coati (Nasua narica) roaming throughout the mountains. Better characterizing the importance of this wildlife corridor is critical to understanding and protecting wildlife movement in a rapidly changing ecosystem. This information can also help shift narratives to highlight the importance of this biodiverse region and help maintain connectivity for resource access for wildlife.

Speaker: Kinley Ragan, Field Research Project Manager for Arizona Center for Nature Conservation/Phoenix Zoo

Kinley Ragan graduated with a B.S. in Conservation Biology in 2019 and an MS in Biology in 2020 both from Arizona State University. Her undergraduate thesis explored human-wildlife conflict and coexistence at a global scale while her graduate thesis aimed to better understand wildlife habitat use of washes in the US-Mexico borderlands. Kinley now manages the Field Conservation Research Department at the Phoenix Zoo where she runs research projects both in Arizona and Costa Rica focused on human-wildlife coexistence, habitat connectivity for wildlife, and developing innovative conservation technology to better monitor species in the wild.

Pre-registration required. Register at https://7830.blackbaudhosting.com/7830/Branching-Out-Speaker-Series-08May2026.