Jaguar Directory

[Balam]

CHACO: I'm gonna do a summary of a recent article posted by Mongabay on the dynamics of the only jaguar captured and monitored in the Argentinian Chaco so far, Qaramta 107 kg male.

Qaramta has been tracked for 10 months now, at first on the 14 of September of 2019 a camera trap installed at the offshore of a river where the tracks of Qarampta had been found and it captured this images:

His sighting was huge because it is estimated that only between 15 and 20 specimens live between the Paraguayan and Argentinian Chaco. This is a very sensitive population.

Qaramta was described as a very "Chacoan" of big size as are the individuals in that area (historically Chaco jaguars have always been some of the biggest). Unfortunately, no sightings of any females had been recorded in the same area where Qaram had been spotted, so in order to keep him inside the national park, the team of zoologists had to bring a captive female of 19 years of age from the Reintroduction Center of the Rewilding Argentina foundation, her name is Tobuna. 

While Tobuna had been kept inside an enclosure designed for her and Qram to interact, the biologists had the purpose of increasing the gene pool inside the park and due to her old age, she was ruled out in that project. So instead they brought in a different and younger female named Tania who is one of Tobuna's daughters and she replaced her mother.

Tania:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Interactions between the two:

Rumble between the two:

Using Tania as a tool to keep Qaramta inside the park has worked so far, he stays around her especially during the times of heat, then wanders around other areas of the park. Unfortunately outside of it, he runs the risk of being poached as hunting is still an issue in that region.

I'm not sure if the team plans to provide Qaramta access to Tania, but it makes sense that at some point they would in order to increase the presence of Chacho jaguars in the park and allow him to pass down his genes.

The team is torn between building a different sanctuary for Tania in which they would allow Qaramta to enter due to COVID-19 precautions. If the plans goes through, they would allow them to mate and retain Tania in captivity while pregnant.

The good news is that they have spotted the tracks of two other jaguars in the park, one measures 5 cm in width, the other measures 10 cm in width (and might be the same one I posted some time ago with a length of close to 15 cm)

Source: https://es.mongabay.com/2020/08/gran-cha...as-trampa/ Reply