Jaguars of Brazil - Dynamics,Lifestyle,Datas,Studies,Reports

[Dark Jaguar]

onçafari

posted in July 2013

https://oncafari.org/2013/07/18/jaguars-climb-trees-portuguese/


Jaguars climb trees.

There's a myth that jaguars don't climb trees! Well, we have evidence to prove otherwise. We didn't see it, as we have it on film. If you look at YouTube you'll see that there's not a lot of that footage made in nature. Most of the videos are from zoos. But the scenes we have happened in nature, more precisely in the Pantanal, here in Brazil.

Until this event our team had found eight trees that proved that jaguars did climb and rest on trees. We even left a photographic trap in one of the trees and got interesting scenes during the month that the camera was there. Not only did we film a jaguar on top of the tree but we also filmed a Puma with its cub.

We already had the scratch marks on the trees and also the images of the photo trap... but we wanted to see with our own eyes.


One of the trees that we have recently found that has numerous claw marks high up in the branches.

*This image is copyright of its original author

This tree is frequented by a female Jaguar known by the habituation team as Esperança.

*This image is copyright of its original author

This huge tree has amazing number of scratch and claw marks. Some as high as five meters tall.

*This image is copyright of its original author

One day following a female and her cub as they walked through the woods, we watched the cub climb a tree. The confidence with which he climbed up the trunk makes us believe it wasn't the first time he'd done that. He was very relaxed on top of the tree, which gave us good opportunities to photograph him. Suddenly as if he was feeling "outside" his mother went up too. But when the two of them were up there they ran out of space and cautiously came down from the tree.



Yara's cub resting in the branches of a tree.

*This image is copyright of its original author

It was really a privilege to watch these felines playing. We spent more than three hours with them that night, which shows us that our dream of getting used to the presence of our vehicles is coming true.



That cub is one of my favorite jaguars. He has a keen curiosity, typical of a young feline.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Written and photographed by Adam Bannister
Filming by Adam Bannister and Diogo Lucatelli







onçafari

posted in September 2019

https://oncafari.org/2019/09/01/caso-gatuna-novo-comportamento-de-oncas-pintadas-detectado/

Gatuna's case.

new jaguar behaviour detected

Recently our team observed a behavior never before seen in the history of jaguars that inhabit the Pantanal. An unexpected act, which started from one of the monitored females, showed that the animal universe has some patterns, but not everything can be predicted.

UNEXPECTED BEHAVIOR

Male jaguars usually approach females during the mating period. When the female is receptive they take all the attitude that is, they follow her a lot, demarcate territory and stay "in the glue" until she allows the copulation. And because it is not a monogamous species the males can repeat this process with several females during their lives.

The demonstration of receptivity of females has always been observed in a very subtle way, which means that they do not usually take great attitudes only demonstrating in a light way that they are open to the "game of seduction" of males.

But a change in behaviour has caught us by surprise last month. Gatuna, one of the female jaguars monitored by our team, showed a more aggressive conduct, ceasing to be passive in the conquest process, and becoming a little more "active". 


Gatuna female drinking water (photo: ALFONSO PALACIOS)

*This image is copyright of its original author

THE DARING OF GATUNA

During a sighting the team noticed that Gatuna had rejected the onslaughts of Monteiro male,demonstrating his unwillingness to copulate. Until then an expected behavior.


 Gatuna on the defensive with Monteiro male.  (photo: ALFONSO PALACIOS)

*This image is copyright of its original author

However the next day an unexpected attitude caught our attention. The female jag approached another male Corixo, initially in a subtle way. As it was a very cold day the two lay down together in the sun to warm up.

At a certain moment Gatuna got up and looked at the Corixo hoping that he would get up too. He continued lying down and she surprisingly "grabbed" the male. This aggressive attitude showed a totally new behavior in the universe of cats. The normal is that the males "grab" the females to introduce the penis but in this case the female "grabbed" the male.


Gatuna grabbing Corixo male in an unexpected act. (Photo: ALFONSO PALACIOS)

*This image is copyright of its original author

Possibly amazed the male did not react well fighting with the Gatuna at first. But after the astonishment the two copulated several times as would be natural and expected.


THE IMPORTANCE OF MONITORING IN GENERATING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

As in the case of jaguars that climb trees, monitoring has proved necessary and efficient in generating scientific knowledge. Observing the behavior of wild animals, with as little human interference as possible, is the most transparent way to map habits, customs and produce knowledge, in order to use them for conservation.

The Gatuna case may have been only an isolated case or the pattern may be repeated from now on but the important thing is to continue observing, mapping and generating material for future scientific studies. Reply