21 Sept 2024
The native Tupí-Guaraní word for jaguar is yaguará or “he who kills with one leap.” When it comes to jaguars, this is an excellent description. To watch a jaguar stalk and pounce is a unique experience.
Boating the rivers of the Pantanal, I was fortunate to witness two such hunts. Not all jaguars were lazing in their special cool spots. Some were hunting, some were arguing, all were doing what jaguars do.
According to the Jaguar Field Guide, published each year by the Jaguar ID Project, an estimated 4,000-7,000 jaguars may live in the Pantanal and represents the densest population in the world. If you want to see a jaguar in its own habitat, doing jaguar things and acting as a wild jaguar should, then come to the Pantanal.
Jaguars are beautiful and hefty stalk-and-ambush predators, distinguishing themselves by regularly killing prey by piercing the back of the skull or neck with powerful canines. Their favorite food is caiman and lucky for them, there are millions of them in the rivers and ponds in the Pantanal.
Guide Roger and boat pilot Sapo load the ice cooler, lunch, water and patience for the day on the water by 8 am. This hour is my choice as 8-5 is enough. If I don’t see a jaguar, or two or three, in that time, the elusive animal just isn’t going to show up.
https://pantanalsafaristour.com
Smoke and fires
Yesterday the air was clearer. However, today the smoke is back with a vengeance. Looking at the NASA web site, I can see I am very near several fires. In reality, it seems much of Brasil is burning. Add to these woes that it is an unusually dry season, many fires burn uninterrupted.
Mammals and reptiles and birds, oh my
An occasional water buffalo can be seen grazing in the grasses. They look up with a very aggressive posture, almost daring us to come near. I have no doubt he would charge the boat if we came close to shore.
Other sightings included a red-legged tortoise with actual red leggings, and a howler monkey with its tiny days-old baby clinging to her chest. Caimans dot every shoreline and lay in the shallow water. With open mouths, they smile their toothy grin as if happy to see me. I believe they all have ulterior motives. Caimans share little fear unless the boat is close, then they duck under the water and with a strong, swift flap of tail swim out of our way.
Giant Otter Family
Our comfortable aluminum boat skims along the river in search of cool breezes and animal life. We quickly spot the otter family group who steal the show with their antics and inquisitive natures. There are five adults, the parents of the three little pups seen a couple days ago.
They skim and dive beneath the water in search of fish and crustaceans. Certainly cute and fun to observe, they work together as a successful group of predators. One swims on her back eagerly chomping on a fish, the crunching of bones audible for some distance.
They are social, living and hunting in family groups typically supporting three to eight members. The groups contain one dominant breeding pair and are extremely cohesive and cooperative. Although generally peaceful, the species is territorial.
Reaching lengths up to 5-6 feet, males can weigh as much as 71 lbs and the smaller females 50- 57 lbs. All five adults haul out of the water to enter their den. Amazing, as either it is very intimate living or the den is very large as it now contains over 300 lbs of otter!
The giant otter has the shortest fur of all otter species; it is typically chocolate brown and appears nearly black when wet. Unique markings of white or cream fur color the throat and under the chin, allow individuals to be identified.
I think they instinctively know how cute they are.
Daily update on dead buffalo
On Thursday, we discovered a dead water buffalo in the river. Alternately drifting and being stuck in shallow water, he represented “meals on wheels” for jaguars and vultures. Caiman were uninterested. The hide of the buffalo presented no problem for a jaguar but the vultures had to wait for their turn.
Friday the buffalo had drifted a bit but by Saturday had come to rest on a sand bar in very low water. Feeding on its rump was a jaguar. Vultures were queued up on the sand. The jaguar waded to shore and vultures jumped out of his path. Three or four vultures at a time then flew out to the carcass to peck and tear away their lunch.
The buffalo is several hundred pounds of Grade A Choice meat to these diners. I doubt anything will go to waste.
Fairy forests in this amazing biome
I enjoy what I call the “fairy forests” of the Pantanal. Anything standing still in this biome will eventually play host to insects, birds’ nests, and/or vines.
Fairy forests contain vine-draped trees which, with imagination , take the shapes of everything from trolls to elephants to angels. It is most enjoyable to zip down the river between banks of these vine-draped trees, naming all the shapes one sees.
I have developed a healthy respect for this amazing biome where water and tropical temperatures attracts insects which attract fish and frogs and birds which attract capybara and caiman. And I know with caiman, the jaguars will come.
All is connect by a symbiotic thread for survival. The rain comes and fills the rivers and inundates the land, feeds the trees and kills vegetation. When the water recedes, new plants spring to life. Then the dry season ensues and waters become more concentrated with animals crowded together. Grasses die, the sun bakes the land, fires burn until the wet season begins a rebirth.
Jaguar sightings
Is this a standoff? We see two jaguars atop the riverbank under the trees. Neither appears to be aggressive. At this time both seem relaxed, sometimes too relaxed.
Sprawling out on a tree trunk, head thrown back, and I imagine snoring away, is Baguá. He was identified in 2021 as a mate of Ibaca and in 2023 as mate of Jaju. Baguá has also been seen in coalition with the male Xingu in 2022 and 2023. Xingu was born in 2018 and also was a mate of Ibaca in 2021 so perhaps he and Baguá had much in common.
Just a short 25’ away is a resting Kwang. He has been observed since 2019 but disappears every other year. He is noted as being aggressive with boats. I also saw Kwang sleeping along the riverbank just below this location just two days ago.
Both jaguars do not seem the type to be so close and ignoring each other. We watch for a time, but neither seems eager to do anything, but turn over on their other side, much less fight with each other.
We boat on.
Mom fighting for her empty nest
Perhaps the most exciting discovery of the day was the young female Apeiara, born in 2022, stretched out on a tree trunk . We stopped to observe her. Within minutes, Apeiara stands alert. Someone is approaching. Apeiara climbs the riverbank to see who approaches. She discovers the jaguar is her mother, Ibaca.
For jaguars, mothers do not fear an empty nest. In fact, they prefer it. This is Ibaca’s territory and it is time for her adult daughter to find her own terrain. Atop the riverbank, a fight ensues with lots of snarling and kicking up dust. Apeiara is pushed over the bank and concedes to mama. She recedes into the trees.
It is Ibaca who comes to the riverside for a drink then casually walks down the waters’ edge. This is her territory and she is unwilling to share – even with her daughter.
True predators of the waters?
Word spreads. There appears to be an amorous couple downstream. Boats speed in their direction hoping to photograph their tryst.
For jaguars, there is no privacy on the river.
After 9 hours on the river, the smoke-reddened sun begins to set and the air cools. Speeding downstream creati g our own strong breezes is a luxury. I can feel the sensation of the air noticeably warming then cooling as we pass through different zones along the river. It is a beautiful time to be on the river in the Pantanal.
