Cerrado Jaguar

[Balam]

(07-16-2023, 07:41 AM)Balam Wrote: @Mapokser thanks for your questions.

Jaguars are greatly endangered in the Cerrado despite the eco-region being the second largest by extension in Brazil after the Amazon. Jaguars and their prey have been greatly overhunted throughout and their numbers are low as a result, but they still exist nonetheless. Less than 400 in such a vast area is critically endangered:

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The organization Brasilia e o Bicho tracks jaguars in Goiás and we have posted several specimens here. For example, in this post some years ago I shared footage of a big male named Holyfield and a feral hog in the same area. Feral hogs are also abundant in Goiás to the point that the government has made it legal to hunt without limits: https://www.entrelinhasgoias.com.br/caca...-em-goias/. You probably haven't come across them because they tend to hide within fields of crops and inside forested areas to avoid being spotted and hunted by people.

I argue that given that most of the large mammals that jaguars in the interior of Brazil rely upon for food have greatly dwindled in numbers (peccary, marsh deer, tapirs, Pampas deer, etc.) feral hogs provide an excellent source of food to sustain them in the areas where they co-occur. Feral hogs have the perfect size to feed large-bodied jaguars and supplement their diets.

I recently came across this gigantic male from Goiás who lives on a large ranch with cattle, peccary, tapirs, and brocket deer. I'm not sure if feral hogs inhabit the area but he's clearly not missing any meals:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

If you want to see wild jaguars in the Cerrado your best bet is Pousda Trijunçao where Onçafari is currently tracking them and where they recently captured their first two specimens. However, jaguars in the Cerrado are not habituated to people so the chance of your running into them in a safari is very low. I'd much more recommend the Pantanal for that. Caiman Ecological Refuge in the southern Pantanal, also under the wing of Onçafari, is a transitional area with the Cerrado where you are guaranteed to sight specimens, the jaguars there also happen to be the largest in the world.

@Mapokser you may also like this, a big melanistic male from the Serra dos Pireneus - Goiás:

*This image is copyright of its original author

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