The Jaguar in Iberá

[Balam]

Iberá Wetlands

The Iberá Wetlands are a mix of swamps, bogs, stagnant lakes, lagoons, natural slough, and courses of water in the center and center-north of the province of Corrientes, Argentina.

Iberá is one of the most important freshwater reservoirs in South America and the second-largest wetland in the world after Pantanal in Brazil. It is of pluvial origin, with a total area of 15,000–20,000 km2 (5,800–7,700 sq mi).

Since 1982, part of the wetland is included within a provincial protected area, the Iberá Provincial Reserve, which comprises about 13,000 km2 (5,000 sq mi), the largest of such areas in Argentina. There are ongoing plans to further up its protection status to national park.

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Evelyn Proimos

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José Lozada

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Jorge Talkowski

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Diego Kondratzky

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Paul Cottis

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Fabián Soldano

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The Jaguar in Corrientes

The yaguareté, jaguar or tiger (Panthera onca) is the largest felid in America. Historically, it was distributed throughout central and northern Argentina, inhabiting jungles, mountains, grasslands and bathed up to the Negro River in Patagonia.

Unfortunately, during the last centuries this beautiful animal has seen its distribution reduced to a few places in the country. Jaguars were still seen in Corrientes in the middle of the last century and in the Iberá region there are still people who remember when they shared the territory with the great spotted cat. Today in Argentina there are only three separate populations of jaguars in the montane jungles of the Northwest, in some sector of the Gran Chaco and in the missionary jungle. All these populations face the serious danger of disappearing in the coming decades, which would imply the total extinction of one of the most beautiful and emblematic animals in Argentina.

Faced with this situation, the Iberá Natural Reserve in Corrientes stands out for bringing together what may be the best conditions in all of Latin America to restore a disappeared population of this species. This is due to the existence of a 1,300,000 ha protected area that is home to vast areas depopulated by people and livestock, and which also has abundant wild animals that can support a long-term population of jaguars.

Faced with this opportunity, we want to point out five main reasons that justify the return of the species to Corrientes and, more specifically, to the Iberá Natural Reserve:

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With an area of 1.3 million hectares, the Iberá Nature Reserve represents a unique opportunity to try to recover this great animal. After two decades of conservation work, this reserve is home to large populations of capybaras, caiman and deer that will need the regulatory role of a large predator to maintain their long-term health. A study by a CONICET researcher shows that within Iberá there would be an area of nearly 650,000 hectares where jaguars could live with abundant food and minimal contact with humans and their livestock. There are few places in all of America that have so much territory suitable for this species and where it can be.

By Proyecto Iberá

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Reintroduction Process & Timeline

In 2015, the Jaguar Reintroduction Center began to operate on the island of San Alonso, in the heart of the Esteros del Iberá. Its objective is to produce jaguars —either born there or coming from the wild from other regions— with the right qualifications needed to be able to be released in Iberá with the goal of forming a healthy population of this species so that it can recover its role as the top predator in this ecosystem.

After evaluating the vast continuous area of habitat that could support about 100 jaguars and conducting social surveys that showed great support across the province for the reintroduction of the jaguar, the construction of the Jaguar Reintroduction Center was carried out in 2013.

In 2015, the first breeding female, Tobuna, arrived, followed by the first male, Nahuel, in 2016. During 2017, a male and two females —Chiqui, Tania and Isis— were donated or given by different institutions in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, and they were also incorporated into the project. These animals are not suitable to be released, but the hope is that they will have cubs that will be raised without human contact and who will learn to hunt for themselves so that they can be liberated into the wild of the esteros.

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A snapshot from a camera recording of Arami and Mbarete days before their first birthday.

In June 2018, Arami and Mbarate were born —they are the first jaguar cubs to be born in the Reintroduction Center and the first jaguars to be born in Corrientes after half a century of their absence in the province. It is expected that after a phase of adaptation to life in the wild, they will be released in the next years to live free in Iberá, with their movements and locations constantly monitored thanks to satellite radio collars.

Tania, the mother of the cubs, is the daughter of Tobuna and was brought into the breeding program after became apparent that her mother, Tobuna, was not getting pregnant despite several episodes in which she went into heat and copulated with males. Her advanced age of an estimated 17 years is the most likely reason for her inability to become pregnant. A significant fact about Tania is that she lacks a hind foot, which she lost in an accident as a cub. Despite this handicap, the young jaguar quickly learned to hunt for herself in the Jaguar Reintroduction Center and has demonstrated that she is an exceptional mother. The father of the cubs is Chiqui, who was born free and lived in the wild in Paraguay until his mother was killed by poachers at which point he was taken to the Antiguy Animal Refuge.

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Jaguar Juruna during her arrival in Corrientes.

In February of 2019, two female jaguars, Juruna and Mariua, arrived at the Jaguar Reintroduction Center. They were born in the wild in Brazil at the beginning of 2017 and then rescued after their mother was killed by hunters. They were taken to the Conservation Refuge ”NEX No Extinction” near Brasilia, where they lived with little contact with humans, until they were donated to the jaguar reintroduction project in Iberá.

After completing his reproductive role at the Jaguar Reintroduction Center, Chiqui, the father of the cubs, was returned to the Atinguy-Yacyretá Animal Refuge in Paraguay in January 2019.

In August 2018, “Jatobazinho” was found north of Corumbá, Brazil. After swimming across the Paraguay River, he sought refuge under an overturned boat near the Jatobazinho Rural School, which gave him his name. When they found him in the Brazilian region of Pantanal, “Jatobazinho” weighed around 35 kilograms, but the work of organizations and governments allowed his recovery.

“It is believed that it was a juvenile who was displaced by other jaguars, was malnourished and it was obvious that it had not eaten for a long time,” said Alicia Delgado, head of Feline Quarantine at CLT Argentina (Conservation Land Trust).

The recovery process began at the Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center (CRAS) in Campo Grande (Brazil), where it was determined that their best destination was reintroduction into the wild. After five months at CRAS, Jatobazinho was transferred to the Caimán Ecological Refuge, where the Onçafari organization continued his recovery, keeping him without human contact and feeding him food and live prey, to facilitate his reintegration into nature.

By Infocampo & Rewilding Argentina

Jatobazinho was released into Ibera in November 2019: 

In December 2020, a second little of cubs were born to Mariua and Jatobazinho:

The certainty of the birth of Karai and Porã, as they were baptized days later by popular vote, was for the moment the last positive news for the recovery of a species whose existence is seriously threatened in Argentina. Children of Mariua and Jatobazinho, two Brazilian specimens that have been in the CRY since last year, the newcomers expand the number of animals considered "liberable" that consolidate the idea of repopulating Iberá with jaguars (jaguars), 70 years after its extinction in the area.

In January 2021 a third litter of cubs from Juruna and Jatobazinho was born, marking the third litter od jaguars born in the area by the reintroduction project

In January 2021 another major milestone took place, Mariua and her cubs Karai and Porã have been released into the wild in the immense grasslands, wetlands and forests of this National Park. For the first time in the world, the jaguar has been reintroduced in a region where it had disappeared. The decision of the national and provincial governments, and the commitment of the proud people of Corrientes has made it possible.

The recovery of Argentine species and environments through Rewilding takes a fundamental step ahead which will show the way for the future of conservation in the country.

By Rewilding Argentina

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