There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
07-08-2020, 10:53 PM( This post was last modified: 07-08-2020, 10:54 PM by Balam )
Some relatively good news about Tiago, post mortem examination revealed that he wasn't poached but was killed by another jaguar.
Leandro brought a jaguar specialist in post mortem analysis to try to determine the cause of Tiago's death, and he realized that Tiago was missing some vertebrae behind the skull which is characteristic of jaguar predation:
*This image is copyright of its original author
They then brought in a Jaguar from Pantanal who had been previously killed by another jaguar to examine the marks in its skull that lead to its death and compare it to Tiago's:
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
They speculated that Rogerio male could be the male that killed Tiago as they crossed paths multiple times in the past which could've led to a deadly altercation:
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
But they also said that it was likely that it could've been another male that hasn't been tracked who did the killing, they reiterated that for a jaguar to kill another the size of Tiago it must have been huge, and let's remember Tiago was pretty big himself.
The killing by another jaguar also explains why his carcass was voided of flesh only within 24 hours after his death. The other jaguar must have consumed his flesh, turning this into an episode of predation and cannibalism.
Despite what some people have said in the past, Leandro clarified that jaguars are very territorial animals and they usually avoid running into each other because confrontations between them tend to turn deadly. When they fight they go all in and for the kill.