It was said that it couldn’t be done: the terrain was too dangerous; the floods would wipe out the cameras; the system was too unpredictable. But the truth is, no-one had really tried Andi Cross tells Melissa Hobson.
We were headed to Porto Jofre, known for its wild jaguars, to help the Jaguar Identification Project (JIP) complete a 41-site camera trap grid – one of the largest ever installed in South America’s Pantanal – to measure jaguar density inside the park using non-invasive methods.
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JIP – a non-profit that studies how these cats are responding to a rapidly shifting ecosystem – has documented over 478 individual jaguars, building the world’s largest wild jaguar database.
The Edges of Earth team was joining JIP’s founder Abbie Martin, Brazilian biologist João Rodrigues, and Cigano Silas – a local Pantaneiro born and raised in this unforgiving terrain.
Current estimates put the local jaguar population at over 1,600 individuals but no-one has directly measured the park’s jaguar population. Soon, thanks to this new grid, the team will finally have a number rooted in concrete, long-term fieldwork.
Every day for a week, we made our way up and down the rivers searching for the cats, waiting for the loud bark of a capybara, signalling danger to the others. Out here, everything respects the jaguar.
Jaguars will take down just about anything. Think guinea pigs, iguanas, birds, even giant river otters (a new behaviour in the region).
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Each cat has its own hunting method. Some walk the banks. Others lurk in trees, diving down from five to eight metres above.
We saw two jaguars pushing those limits. A jaguar named Ousado was spotted diving under the water, stealth-hunting caiman from below – a technique never seen before.
Then another called Medrosa launched herself from the treetops to dive down to catch prey. These cats are unlocking new levels of predation and adapting in real-time to a dynamic ecosystem.
As a highly flexible apex predator, the jaguar has learned to exploit aquatic environments in ways few other big cats do.
Jaguars are built for this. Massive heads, thick necks, and paws like sledgehammers. They have the strongest bite force of any big cat, which is an evolutionary adaptation to crush through turtle shells and reptilian prey. And they’re extremely powerful swimmers.
Helena Aimee, a veterinarian at JIP told us that, in this river-dominated ecosystem, jaguars regularly hunt aquatic prey such as caiman and capybara, but individuals like Ousado and Medrosa take this further by diving underwater or from trees – learning from experience and refining their aquatic hunting techniques.
River systems are critical refuges: they provide food during extreme events like droughts and fires and shape unique hunting strategies that allow jaguars like Ousado and Medrosa to thrive.
Life for these cats isn’t without risks. Some break their canines taking down armoured prey like caiman. Others die from territorial fights, old age, or the sheer brutality of the wild. Jaguars typically live between 12 and 15 years in the wild, but some survive well past 17.
Within this wetland wilderness, jaguars are not currently endangered. But that doesn’t mean they’re safe, especially as human pressures continue to grow.
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Andi Cross is an expedition leader, impact strategist, and SSI-certified technical diver. Through Edges of Earth, she works alongside scientists, Indigenous leaders, and coastal communities worldwide to document climate resilience and uncover solutions already working on the frontlines of conservation.
