Jaguar (Panthera onca)

After 4 days here in Jaguarland I’ve seen a jaguar (Panthera onca) for a merely 3 seconds – not enough to even get a shot! This being my last day I was hoping for a longer encounter, but as the day progressed it did not look very promising.

We took some new routes, but not a single jaguar was seen. As we headed back to Porto Jofre, we stopped to chat with another boat that told us they had been watching the jaguar designated George for a long time under a tree, and finally decided to leave as George did not move an inch, and they lost patience.

So how do you find that particular location? Although the guide knows this area inside out, each tree does not have a number or label attached to it, so there’s a considerable room for error.

The other guide said he tied a small plastic bag to a branch of the tree, and that we would find it easily. As the location was around 1 hour away, I was very sceptical that this would be a success. I was even less optimistic when we approached and we seemingly had passed the location. Then another bend in the river and we see the bag, which we untied and secured.

But would George still be there? He was, and how well hidden he was!

Here are the photos from the time he decided to move out of the thicket and into the rain that was intensifying. Strangely jaguars like water, and rain is no exception. In fact this seemed to be his cue to start hunting. The noise from the rain and the movements generated by the winds is a perfect cover for a hunting jaguar.

I could follow George a long way downstream, as he preferred to walk on the the very edge of the river, with clear views of possible prey.

Every now and then he would shake the rainwater off as seen here, it was after all a very intense rainstorm! Our boat was filling up fast!

With rain as heavy as this I wonder if the jaguar has any way of finding pray, except by chance or perhaps capybaras crossing the river. I wonder what goes through George’s head here.

Not long after this shot a thunderbolt struck extremely close by. What do cats do when they are shocked? They jump straight up and run away – exactly what George did. I laughed my heart out! It was so funny and unexpected, especially as he seemed totally at ease with lots of previous thunder quite loud and nearby.