Wildfires devastated Brazil‘s Pantanal over the summer, scorching over 3 million acres—an area the size of New Jersey. The fires spread rapidly, endangering wildlife, including threatened species like jaguars. Many perished in the flames, while those who escaped suffered from severe burns and smoke inhalation. One such jaguar, Itapira, was found lying motionless in a […]
Tag: jaguars
Jaguars Bid for Survival in Brazil’s Wetlands
As fires rage across the Pantanal in central-western Brazil, the world’s largest tropical wetland, jaguars are showcasing a remarkable ability to adapt to the intensifying threats of their environment. While countless species suffer from the impacts of these fires, jaguars survive by using riverside refuges and sustaining themselves on prey like caimans and capybaras, which […]
With rare mammal tourism, observing means conserving (commentary)
At the turn of this century, seeing a wild jaguar was exceptionally difficult. People driving through the Jaguar Ecological Reserve in the Pantanal in Brazil would very occasionally get a glimpse of one crossing the road, but photographing them in the wild was considered almost impossible. The same was true for other large iconic cat […]
At Mexico’s school for jaguars, big cats learn skills to return to the wild
In the grasslands of Yagul, in the central valleys of southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state, a jaguar makes its way through the bushes. It stops suddenly, lowering its head and sharpening its gaze, stalking. With its eyes on its target, it stealthily pounces on it. Just a short run and a jump before the jaguar’s prey […]
Wild Cam: Jaguar Predation on Livestock Limited in NE Mexico
Adrián Caballero and his colleagues released tracking dogs late one February morning in the hilly jungle terrain of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and from there, the chase was on. “Machete en mano,” they sometimes ran along thin game trails, sometimes sliced their way through thick foliage, following the sound of the dogs’ barking as […]
Romance, rivalry, & resilience: Jaguars clash and thrive in the Pantanal’s wild wetlands
Third-biggest cat on Earth, muscular and low-slung, boasting one heck of a chomp, the jaguar reigns supreme atop the wild Neotropical food web. And while catching a glimpse of this burly beast across much of its forested range is no easy feat, the Pantanal –the “Kingdom of Waters,” world’s biggest freshwater tropical wetland and a […]
‘Losing Noah’s Ark’: Brazil’s plan to turn the Pantanal into waterway threatens world’s biggest wetland
As the evening sky turns violet, the animals of the Pantanal gather near the water. Capybaras swim in tight formation, roseate spoonbills add smudges of pink to the riverbanks, the rumble of a jaguar pulsates from the forest. This tropical wetland is the largest on Earth, stretching across Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, and playing host […]
Shrimp farms threaten Mexico’s mangroves and the jaguars that inhabit them
Among the spindly saline roots of the mangrove trees that line western Mexico’s coast, the jaguar is the ecosystem’s apex predator. Yet despite being at the top of the food chain, its existence is threatened by the abundance of another, much smaller species: the whiteleg shrimp. Aquaculture of whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), or Pacific white […]