WildFact
›
Outdoor activities
›
Vacations and Holidays
Your Wildlife experience in the Pantanal, Brazil.
Your Wildlife experience in the Pantanal, Brazil.
|
Your Wildlife experience in the Pantanal, Brazil.
|
We leave tomorrow, unfortunately the cold front is coming in this upcoming week which could make sightings more difficult but it should burn off with enough time for us to have a few good weather days.
I'll update as best I can and have pictures and stories when I return.   *This image is copyright of its original author Tomorrow begins our first trip through Jaguar country but so far this place is filled with Caiman, Capybara, Vultures and many other birds. I cant wait for tomorrow, we still have a boat trip later today and going to hike and try to see a habituated Ocelot tonight.  *This image is copyright of its original author Just a couple of phone shots from the boat ride and our Ocelot friend  *This image is copyright of its original author This place really is something special, I've already gotten so many amazing photos and videos and we haven't started our official Jaguar tour yet. Also something to note, the infamous 158kg Jaguar Adriano, isn't the largest Jaguar in the Pantanal, my guide has seen him and says he's seen a few even larger than he is. I'm really excited to get to Porto Jofre tomorrow and finally go search for Jaguars. I'll update as best I can but I expect wifi to only get worse as we move closer to Jaguar country.
3 jaguars today, 2 males and 1female.
1 male named Marley is a 3/4 year old dominate Male who is unusual in that he's a young male and smaller but still is able to defeat many males in the fights he's had. I got some great shots of him Next was a gigantic male named Luka who was in the Bush dragging a massive caiman through the dense marsh to a tree, couldn't get great shots of him but managed one. Last was a beautiful female who's most likely unknown in the area, we saw her in a area that isn't known for many Jaguars but she was there and apparently there were 2 others there disputing a caiman kill but we never got to see them. I got some good shots of her as well. That was just my first safari, I cant wait to see what the next 2 1/2 days has in store. 
Marley
 *This image is copyright of its original author The Female  *This image is copyright of its original author She was actually with 2 cubs who were feasting on a Caiman kill. These are just a couple of cell phone shots, I have much better shots on my camera. The reason Pantanal Jaguars are so big comes down to a few factors... First is the huge supply of Caiman to prey on, they're everywhere. They're literally the Impala or Chital of the Jaguar world. Second is because the rivers are so large and the grass can be so thick that you need a large muscular cat to trek through the harsh terrain. Last is what I just witnessed and Ties into the second point and that is the strength that's required to carry prey up steep banks and through thick dense Bush which is wet and muddy. Why amazon Jaguars are smaller than pantanal... In the amazon the Jaguars favorite prey are sloths, the trees that Jaguars hunt sloth on arent especially strong and will break with too much weight. With a mixture of small prey, dense vegetation and special needs for hunting their prey contributes to a smaller cat For any skeptics, my guide has worked in the amazon for years and says its absolutely true that Amazonian Jags are much smaller than their Pantanal cousins. The Pantanal is a meeting of 3 different rivers and it contains 3 different biomes. It's absolutely gigantic and the Jaguar population is insane. I've never seen a place where so many cats live so close to each other. It's also the perfect place to see hunts and kills because the banks attract Caiman to bask and that's where Jaguars usually make their kills. I'll start my full day safari in a few hours and hopefully ill have much more to share but so far this place has been incredible!
Just got back from our first morning safari...
Spotted 5 different Jaguars! Spent a ton of time with Marley who has a severe limp from fighting, got a brief sighting of the male Marley fought with but no good shots. I got to see a female named Hunter who is one of the largest females in the pantanal mating with a huge male, ID unknown at this time. Then randomly another Male behind all the boats was making a discrete getaway from the big male and female pair. I have some good shots of the pair, bot together unfortunately but close. Managed to finally spot an Otter but he was by himself and hard to photo. We should be able to get a family soon I'm told. Agian this place amazes.  (07-09-2019, 08:34 PM)Pckts Wrote: Just got back from our first morning safari...@Pckts Incredible experience congratulations
@Pckts you are the only official member of WildFact who have visited the 4 bigcats.. congrats
Wish, many of us can travel and share their experience. On side note, you can ask your guide to make account on WildFact and offer his services on our offer section. Since he is such a good guide, I am sure many of our member and visitor would love to take his service in future
I'll ask him @sanjay
But he's not great about advertising yet *doesnt have an IG either* He's also rarely home but I cannot recommend him enough. His name is Paulo Barreiros with Pantanal and Rainforest expeditions. Yesterday afternoon I spent most of the day with 2 sub adult brothers, one who has an especially dark print pattern. I almost got to name him but Paulo found him in his file and was able to ID him. Back to Paulo, he and Paul Donoghue are the 2 people in charge of having an active ID library for all the Jaguar's here. He also helped Pantera track and ID all the cats they collared. Outside of the local fisherman who drive the boats, he and Paul are by far the best trackers in the Pantanal. Paulo also knows the gentleman who took all the weights and measurements from Pantera. You can absolutely confirm adriano has been weighed and its correct along with many more but Adriano was the heaviest, but he's not the largest cat here so that's exciting to think about. If anyone has questions about Jaguars Paulo is who you want to ask, he'll always answer you on FB it just may take a while for him to respond if he's out on safari.
Got to spend all morning with Giant River Otters on the hunt, I got some great shots.
Also got to see a mating pair of Jaguars and for the first time i actually got to witness them mate but the tree cover was so dense i couldn't snap any shots. I did manage to catch a quick shot of the small female though. @sanjay I let him know about the forum and he's very interested, hopefully he decides to contribute.
More awesome shots of Marley this afternoon then some amazing River Otter action again.
Tomorrow morning will be my final safari here in the Pantanal then it's off to Rio for a few days then home. I could easily spend another week here, it's such a cool place. |
| Users browsing this thread: |
| 1 Guest(s) |