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

[Dark Jaguar]

INTERVIEW WITH PANTHERA BRASIL.

Jango from ''Pesca & Aventura com Jango'' visits Panthera org at the Fazenda Jofre Velho Ranch in celebration of the Jaguar national day in 2019 on a nice interview, after watching it so many times I decided to translate it into english.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE5oRfZ-wwQ

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INTERVIEW WITH FERNANDO TORTATO, ELIZEU EVANGELISTA AND RAFAEL HOOGESTEIJN.

posted in: December 2019


Jango interviews Fernando Tortato.

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Jango: As you know the feline species around the world are endangered from the Lion, Leopard and others but our jaguar is a unique animal from what I heard of because its one of the only felines in the world that can dive and hold its breath until 10 min. underwater, could you tell about it for us ?

Fernando Tortato: The jaguar has this feature that is very linked to the water, river you always have high abundace of jaguars close to large rivers, in the pantanal next to the Cuiabá river, Paraguay river and this feature of the jaguar stay alot of time underwater is because of its prey, the caiman and capybara having their escape underwater, so the jaguar in order to predate on  these animals it needs to dive very well, capture and handle a caiman or capybara underwater and have this power to drag them out of the water to eat it so its an adaptation the jaguar have that differentiate it from other big cats.

Jango: Is the jaguar endangered ?

Fernando Tortato: Its currently found Vunerable, considering Brazil, its vunerable in Pantanal and Amazon and critically endangered in Cerrado, Caatinga and Atlantic Forest, so if we think in the region of Porto Jofre we see many jaguars, its very common but its a very peculiar situation of this region which has a very high density of jaguars, but if we consider the government datas in Cerrado, Caatinga and Atlantic Forest, for each of these biomes it is estimated less than 250 animals so these are very reduced and fragmented populations. So in Pantanal and Amazon you already have a larger abundance of this species and they're more connected so they have a position a bit more favorable in terms of conservation.

Jango: Do you think the deforestation in the Cerrado is making the population of Cerrado jaguars low ?

Fernando Tortato: The fragmentation and habitat loss is the main threat for the jaguar in these biomes so what happens is, these populations end up getting isolated, many times you can even have a reserve relatively big but the population of jaguars is isolated so it starts having endogamy which are animals relative to one another with degree of kinship and start to mate with one another and the population stars to languish naturally.

Jango: What if it existed those kind of ecological corridors that links one piece of forest to the other maybe it would solve the problem right ?

Fernando Tortato: Its one of the solutions, Panthera is an Institution that works looking for solutions for the conservation of the jaguar, so from Mexico to Argentina you have areas identified by Panthera org that are priority areas specially for the conservation of the jaguar and these are areas with healthy population of jaguars and then you got models that determines the corridors which are more propitious places to connect these populations, so sometimes its is any significant accumulation of water or a river that connects a population in South Pantanal to the North Pantanal, along the river with the riparian forest you connect these populations and with that you guarantee the conservation of this species.

M.F Flash male at Fazenda Jofre Velho

Panthera Brasil

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*This image is copyright of its original author

Jango: I heard you saying something a few min. ago like ''The jaguar is beautiful but nobody wants it in their backyard'' is that it ?

Fernando Tortato: So one of the biggest challenges for us who work with the conservation of the species is looking for solutions for the coexistence with this species, we need to understand that the jaguar, as much as its an emblematic species, symbol of the Brazilian fauna, with a tremendous importance, many times on a landscape with many livestock activity it means loss, so for the rancher we have to look for solutions, to dimish the loss he is having and to make the coexistence with the jaguar more interesting in economic terms because he won't have a very big loss and as a consequence no need to kill the jaguars neither threat the survival of the species so one of the challenges for Panthera and other institutions who work with the jaguars conservation is to look for solutions and trying to figure out how does it work the predation at that farm and which are the best idea to diminish that loss, so we're always on many conservations and dialogues with ranchers to try to understand. Sometimes its the management of the herd of cattle, sometimes its an electric fence, sometimes its a lighting system so you always have to be looking for a solution to decrease this loss.

Jango: The jaguar for being an opportunistic predator at least thats what I think they are but I don't really know much about them and since you are an expert on them the question is do you think the jaguar attacks more often the big healthy cattles individuals or the calves or the unhealthy ones ?

Fernando Tortato: There are alot of studies that have evaluated the topic of jaguar predation on herd of cattles, on my master's degree we evaluated this and the jaguar will preferably predate on calves up to 1 year old to 1 and a half year old, after reaching 1 and half year the vulnerability of this animal decreases so a young adult cattle or a big heifer will be harder for a jaguar to jump onto, take it down and kill it and on the other hand the calf is easier, so if you manage these age ranges the calf of less than 1 year old in a more open land region away from the forest you may reduce this risk and diminish the loss the jaguar may cause so you have to be very aware about that detail, the jaguar has a preference but from studies done here in the Pantanal the loss on a farm rarely surpass 1 or 2% of the total cattle, its between that range 1-2%. So the jaguar do eat cattle its a fact but the equivalent loss on the cattle many times are from diseases, by accidents, snakes bite, by the animal getting stuck in the Pantanal there's the cases droughts and many times a very intense drought kills more cattles than the jaguars but the jaguar involves this cultural issue which is very difficult issue to deal with, the rancher many times for centuries have dealt with the ''jaguar causing problems issue'' and kill the jaguar so its a paradigm change you try to convince thew person that there are ways to make this coexistence viable.

Jango: When we talk about jaguars I even get the goosebumps, its beautiful, when we see it and approach it, it makes us feel like touching it and smoothing it but its dangerous, anyways, there are alot of curious people who want to approach the jaguar, in this case the jaguar will first give a signal as alert then it will attack so where there are jaguars its safe to stay in the car right ?

Fernando Tortato: Yes, stay in the car, on boats, keep the distance, I think that here in the Pantanal we have this opportunity to see the animal and watch its behavior and we gotta respect them, we gotta keep the distance of the boats, avoid taking selfies, avoid feeding the jaguar which is very prohibited because you end up making the jaguar associate people to food and it increases the risks and then yes there are risks of accidents, so for fishing wise the fisherman is very welcome here in the Pantanal, he gotta enjoy this, I think the Pantanal have this scenic beauty, the fauna, the birds and its a public that have alot to win with the ecoturism for watching the jaguars and at moment its a very restrict public for the foreigners but I think we gotta bring the brazilian people to meet these beauties and to know and see the jaguar, I think its a privilege we got here.

Jango: You are a person who lives day by day close to the jaguars and you know every place in Mato Grosso where there are jaguars and how they are so The population of jaguars in Brazil today here at Jofre is it considered the biggest or is it proportional ?

Fernando Tortato: So the density of jaguars which is the number of jaguars by areas here at Jofre is one of the highest in Brazil, so the jaguars are very concentrated specially along the rivers and in any significant accumulation of water but if you consider the whole Pantanal there are alot of high areas in the Pantanal and in the Cerrado that the density of jaguars is much lower so its gonna be related to the prey availability, habitat quality of it being very associated with forests near the rivers, so if you go to a very high region in Mato Grosso, a region very Cerrado-like with many open fields there will be jaguars, but on a much lower density.

Jango: Today is the national and world jaguar day, who came up with this day ? because its the first world jaguar day in Brazil.

Fernando Tortato: It was created in the past but with little disclosure, this year its increasing and it was an initiative of the government the Ministério do Meio Ambiente and CENAP, it was also an initiative linked to the UN and other international institutions to create the international day, what is the idea of this its to disclosure the jaguar, the jaguar is part of the brazilian culture it is present since the stories of Monteiro Lobato, in the brazilian Currency Money Note of 50 Reais, local stories so the jaguar is part of our fauna and I think its important we aggregate value to it, disclosure it, speak about it and to look for solutions for the coexistence of this species with the human being.

Jango: When you see a very big population of pecaries, would the jaguar control the huge density of pecaries ?

Fernando Tortato: Of course, the jaguar is the main predator of the pecari, collared pecari so something really important in Mato Grosso is that I receive alot of calls and there are alot of teachers at Sinop who work with this problem of pecari and boar attacking the agricultures which is a huge loss to the agricultural producer, so if he got a legal reserve in his farm and there is no more jaguars there the pecaries, boars will proliferate and since they gor the food at the agricultural area they will end up getting sedentary, they'll stay there with a very small territory and not moving much, it would go from the woods to the agriculture area then they go back to the woods. So if you have the jaguar, most of the times the jaguar isn't even there but just by the fact the jaguar  scent marked there or by the fact the jaguar walked there, the pecaries will move away from that area because they wouldn't feel much comfortable there, so the jaguar ends up making this fauna and its preys start their movements creating a more natural environment and the jaguar might even indirectly support the agricultural producer so the idea you previously mentioned of adopting a jaguar might be a reality for the future if you have a jaguar in the legal reserve area of your property it is certain that the pecaries won't become sedentary and always stick around only in the agricultural areas attacking the agriculture because the pecari in the agriculture area is very vulnerable for a jaguar, so the pecaries will no longer be slacking off and taking chances in those areas with jaguars around.

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Jango: I watched your lecture and you said something if I am not mistaken that in the bushes if theres 2-3 individuals of jaguars there and then someone shows up and kill them it will probably appear other jaguars migrating from other areas to that territory and then since they are not used to that environment, they will attack everything, am I wrong ?

Fernando Tortato: No, the thing is that many times there's a farm with jaguar predation on the cattle herd, lets say on a temporal scale the jaguar once a month kills a cattle calf, then it eats pecari, capybara, deer and once a month it eats a calf, the jaguar has a territory and it will defend its territory and many times the person kill this specific jaguar in an area near the river where other jaguars walks by, and this territory will be vacant, then another jaguar comes in, this new jaguar might be worse, it may kill a calf every week so many times the rancher come up to me saying ''I killed the jaguar but my loss increased, now the jaguar is eating more of the cattle what happened ?'' Its because you changed the individual, there was an individual that ate cattle once a month, and now comes in another one who eats cattle everyday or every week so the loss is bigger so its an addicting cycle, in these areas with many reserves, many woods, forest, bushes you kill the jaguar but in a matter of time there will come another jaguar so its easier for you to look for solutions that decrease the vulnerability of the cattle herd and make the jaguar not cause much loss so that you can continue with your economical activity.

Jango: According to a few information I saw it says the Bear once it tastes bovine flesh or swine flesh it'll never want other animal's flesh it will always go for those because you know that good part of the bears are omnivores, does that make sense with the jaguars case ?

Fernando Tortato: There's a term used not only for jaguars but for all these large predators called ''Problematic Animal'' which is an animal that gets addicted in consumption of domestic animals but the thing is studies show that the jaguar learns how to hunt with its mother, so if the female teaches its cubs to eat cattle, the propensity is for the cubs to learn and grow eating more cattle and have the cattle as main item of their diet  but if you consider the monitorings done in South Pantanal where 10 jaguars were monitored at same time, checking the diet of these 10 collared animals, the cattle in some extremes the individuals who consumed alot of cattles it represented 30 % of their diet at maximum, so the other 70 % of the items consumed by jaguars were capybara, caiman, pecari, deer  so as much as if its a jaguar that eats alot of cattle, the cattle will never be 100% part of the animal's diet, they will always have a diverse diet so if you got a property with alot of fauna, you can't hunt in this fauna because its the guarantee that the jaguar will have food (natural ones) and will avoid at most your cattle herd and even this jaguar who consumed alot of cattle which was the monitoring of a few years the researcher identified something very interesting, that farm very rarely had pecaries and then in 1 year there came a big group of pecaries and started occuping that farm and then this jaguar who consumed alot of cattles started to consume much more pecaries and its cattle predation dropped to 5% so the jaguar is a predator, its opportunistic, when it have the opportunity it may change its diet a bit.

Jango: I keep thinking the people who create the laws, they don't know half of what you do, I've heard alot of bullshit from people about Panthera, some said Panthera raised cattles to feed the jaguars and whoever said that have no idea what they're talking about, this really saddens me, is this a fact ?

Fernando Tortato: So we had to deal with this Fake News as we say here, because its something different you are in the Pantanal in an livestock cuture where the jaguar many times is only seen as a problem and then it comes an international ONG protecting the jaguars, then it starts the Blah like ''they're feeding the jaguar, they're raising cattle for the jaguar'' What we do is just the other way around, we got a livestock Ranch, we raise cattles, we got our cattles and we're looking for the solution and by the same way another rancher looks for a solution to solve the problem, we're also trying to look for it but of course for Panthera being a research institution we trying to follow goals, we try to follow protocol to try to replicate this, so our porpose is by no means to teach the jaguar eat cattle its the absolute other way around, its to avoid it, we're on the contrary path to look for a solution for the rancher, feeding the jaguar is totally against our principles, our idea is for the jaguar being on the livestock area feeding on caimans.

Sighting of Wilson male and Julianna female at Jofre Velho Ranch - North Pantanal - Brazil.

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Wilson and Julianna

photo: Rafael Hoogesteijn

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CATTLE VS JAGUAR - THE ENCOUNTER

Now an interview in the same place with Elizeu Evangelista from Panthera, the manager who takes care of the farm and who's also extremely knowledgeable about Jaguars.

Jango: Now we're here with Eliseu at the home of the jaguar or more precisely here at Jofre, so Elizeu you're the manager of this farm you take care of here right ?

Elizeu: Yeah I am the manager of this farm since 2015 so its been around 5 years here at Fazenda Jofre Velho, we started by getting an abandoned farm but it was very big reference in the tourism area and with a high reverence of the jaguar, we got alot of jaguars in this ranch and Panthera got this area here for the conservation of the jaguar, today its got 10.000 hectares of land here and we work with livestock inside this burrow of jaguars cause thats what people say, its a burrow of jaguars.

Jango: You know, Panthera got some super interesting stories that you're gonna be telling us and that's why we're here in the middle of the livestock, in the middle of the Jaguar's burrow, all of these cattles stay together how do you call it, is it a corral ?

Elizeu: That's right, its a corral, we use it for the closing of cattle in the field, so every afternoon we come here and close this corral of cattle, because when the cattle is all together on a close environment, it doesn't have the possibility to open when the jaguar arrives, so every time the jaguar comes here it will be walking around the corral and the cattle won't spread out/scatter if they scatter they'll be running together inside the corral, so it won't separate one and the jaguar doesn't get inside to catch one, in order for the jaguar to catch one it has to separate one out of the corral, so since the cattle are stuck together in it the jaguar won't be catching one so easily, its a defence of the cattles the union builds the strength.

Jango: So the Jaguars really attack the cattle ?

Elizeu: Yes, they attack the cattle.

Jango: I heard you guys talking about that there is a group of Buffalos that come forward here to help protecting the cattle right ?

Elizeu: Yeah there's a group of Buffalos as well as a group of Pantaneiro Bulls who stays close to the cattle and this buffalo is a type of animal who is very associated in group defence, it won't separate, it won't scatter from one corral to the other, they're always in group so it got an easy defence and when anything happens we got an average of 4 calves here who were attacked by the jaguar and then they got rescued by either the Pantaneiro Bull or by the Buffalo but it will carry the jaguars marks and perforation on its body so we got facts of the daily basis work here and the defence and strategy we set up with the electric fence, with the Buffalos, with the Pantaneiro Bull. We need to pass these ideas forward to improve it because it won't do any good if only us do it here whereas the neighbour (another farmer) don't.

Purebred Pantaneiro Bull.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

Jango: One very interesting thing while I am talking with you I am with my adrenaline level very high cause I am here in the middle of the corral, large space, the cattles are coming along with the buffaloes but the possibility of having a jaguar around here is very high right ?

Elizeu: Yes, its very high and it happens here many, many times. While you talking here and when we're taking the cattles the jaguar might be lurking around here, its a constant thing.

M.F Flash male at Jofre Velho Ranch.

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One very cool thing Panthera did there was building a school in Panthera's farm for children. The Escola Jofre Velho (School Jofre Velho) teach them not only the regular education ( curricular subject ) but also about brazilian wildlife specially Pantanal's which is where they are and to conservate Brazil's wild species and these are some smart kids regarding animals. ( and Yes, that's a Jaguar skull on the table/desk ).

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Skull up close.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

Jango: I see that you guys here have a school with a system of environmental education, the people who live here you have school for their children right?

Elizeu: Yes we got a school for all of the employees of Panthera's ranch and the employees of the nearby ranch as well. Most of the times the parents come to work and leave their children at the city so Panthera noticed this problem because there were many children who came here with their family including 11 years old kids who's never been to the school. So this school project was built and came for them and today its a reality. The children here are the future of Pantanal, we talk alot about to preserve the jaguars but if we don't preserve the people who live here in the Pantanal, this whole environment preservation won't do any good.

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Now a conversation with Rafael.

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Rafael Hoogesteijn: I am gonna add one comment here as it was used to be said by an old Pantaneiro guy who is a rancher and tourism entrepreneur he says ''The jaguar will never offend you, the jaguar will only defend, if you don't mess with the jaguar, the jaguar won't mess with you but a cornered jaguar chased by dogs on a poaching situation... of course it will offend.''

Rafael, Giovana (Jango's daughter), Jango and Elizeu.

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Jango: Many people say that I am very privileged for doing what I do being everywhere in Brazil but I'd say you guys are privileged for being here defending a good of mankind, people build big stuff and say its the good of mankind, I am not saying bad things about it but the real good of mankind is an animal who controls the other animals population to not spread disease epidemic and many other things, the people don't know in depth what in fact a jaguar do and to my understanding the jaguar here is a top predator who controls all other animals for example if there's too many capybaras what would happen Rafael? there would be problems right ?

Rafael Hoogesteijn: A sick Capybara can be a threat and such a disease may pass to the horses and with the jaguar it will eat its prey and will avoid the disease transmission.

Jango: The Capybara from what I also know will pass the disease if they're on very big groups ?

Rafael Hoogesteijn: Yes, In São Paulo there had the Maculosa fever desease (Spotted Fever). Its because of the lack of jaguars and pumas, there were lots of capybara breeding infected the cattle and then it infected the humans as well.

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Jango: People just don't understand that if killing a jaguar there are chances of coming another one who perhaps is even more used to eating cattle than the one they have in their properties but they control the capybara, the pecari, the boar, it controls everything around here, I think the biggest predator in the world is The Man.

Rafael Hoogesteijn: Yeah and Let me tell you a very interesting story that happened here, in the last 2 years there was a big male jaguar that used to come here at a certain time of the year who used to eat a cow or young cattle once a month, the jaguar grabbed a young cattle that had been already attacked when it was younger ( do you remember Elizeu ? ) and then the Pantaneiro bull came and defended my young cattle from the jaguar, we treated my young cattle and we saved it and later it became a handsome 3 years old male cattle who was ready to be sold on auction, but then... the jaguar came and attacked that same exact male cattle and took it then I got mad and I told to Elizeu '' I am tired of this, lets get some artificial fireworks, wait for the jaguar show up and then shoot up the firework in the sky to scare the jaguar away haha'' and then Eliseu told me something, Eliseu taught me a lesson cause Eliseu learned more than I here in the Pantanal, Eliseu said ''Rafael I get you are mad now because of your loss but if this jaguar goes away it only eats one cattle a month, it eats capybara, it eats caiman but there will come another jaguar that will eat one cattle per week'' then I said Elizeu... You are thinking the right way.

The big male Rafael mentioned happens to be MF Flash Male, the dominant male in the area.

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Jango, his daughter and other visitors went to see the jaguars by boat with Rafael and Elizeu and they managed to see Ti female.

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Taking advantage I am gonna add another visit's brief interview at Panthera's farm the same day Jango went, this visit was by Lídice Lannes who was also onboard on the boat where they saw Ti female and she interviewed Rafael and Elizeu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=813-Je0gUa4


Lídice Lannes brief Interview with Rafael Hoogesteijn.

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Lídice Lannes: So Rafael with the fence streched there's no danger of the jaguar getting in even when the cattle are all together ?

Rafael Hoogesteijn: The jaguar may get in because it can pass through underneath the fence and above it with no problems, the advantage of having a well stretched wire is for the small calf not get out of the corral and the jaguar prey on it, because with a buffalo inside the corral the jaguar is not gonna get in. The buffalo immediately detects it and will charge at the jaguar but if the small calf gets out of the corral then the jaguar will take advantage and catch it, the jaguar is opportunistic, it will try all the time try, try, try until it gets it.

Lídice Lannes: So the practice of putting the buffalo together for you guys is already an experience that works, its a success ?

Rafael Hoogesteijn: Yes, right in the first year when we implemented this tactic the program wasn't yet as syncronized, in the first year we had a loss of 5 animals by jaguar predation and in the second year we had a loss of 0 animals and in the third year again 0 animals.

Corral of Cattles with the presence of Buffalos at Jofre Velho ranch.

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Lídice Lannes brief Interview with Elizeu.

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Lídice Lannes: In the past it was mentioned alot about the fear of the jaguars right ? people would say becareful with the jaguar, you have certainly heard many stories about the jaguar and working at Panthera did you change your perspective of view related to this ? how was in the past and how is it now in relation to the jaguar ?

Elizeu: The jaguar, first of all I gotta tell you I am afraid of the jaguar because its a feline its got way of defence but the most important about the jaguar is respect, you respect the jaguar, because if you work with jaguars taking photos at river bank with safety for you and for the jaguar because any accident that happens with humans, the jaguar will also have loss, on a jaguar attack to human it will also lose, so it will end up being a safety for the cat as well because they don't have the intention to attack humans, in case of an attack its more of recklessness of the human because if you have knowledge about jaguars the jaguar is more dangerous when they are mating, when they are to defend their cubs. When they are mating the male is super aggressive not the female but the male gets aggressive and When its with a cub its the female who is super aggressive because she will protect her offsprings, So these are the times when there's danger with jaguars and also when they take down a prey it will be there to defend its kill because that's its food.

Lídice Lannes: Have you ever had a tough encounter with a jaguar face-to-face ?

Elizeu: Here the routine day by day on the field we encounter them but we have never had any type of attack unless a different glare, like ''don't come any closer, move away'' this you already know by the way they look at you because the jaguar clearly makes a change on its expression it shows its teeth, it shrinks its ears backwards, it does something when its feeling threatened and you also gotta understand that. I know all this area here in Pantanal ever since I was a kid and it was much more wonderful and much more beautiful than it is today but its still a wonder, beautiful and lush nature, here everyday is a differentiated day, on another day you'll have different adventures, its magnificent here.

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