Jaguars could return to New Mexico after hunting left them extinct from the big cat’s historic ranges in the state’s central mountains. Bringing the animal back to habitats in those two states could be essential to restoring the species, the study read. “Here, we see reintroducing the jaguar to the mountains of central Arizona and New Mexico as essential to species conservation, ecosystem restoration, and rewilding,” read the study. A separate study published by Cambridge University Press in March suggested an area spreading between western New Mexico and central Arizona – about 2 million acres – could be suitable for the jaguar’s reintroduction to the American West.