WWF - Expedition Diary - Jaguar Collaring - In Search of Jaguars: An Amazon Tail

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Expedition Diary - Jaguar Collaring

In Search of Jaguars: An Amazon Tail

Deep in the heart of the Amazon roam jaguars, pumas and other creatures of the jungle. Rodrigo Donadi of WWF’s AREAS Amazonia project has been tracking them for almost two years. He’s felt the bone-rattling sound of a jaguar’s roar and seen herds of wild pigs stampeding through the lush rain forest. Join him in the Amazon as he comes face to face with the jaguar – king of the jungle.

We conduct several camera traps surveys a year on both of our research sites. They offer valuable data on the animals’ activity patterns, habitat preference and densities – and are a noninvasive way to study wildlife.
© WWF / BRIT - AREAS_Amazonia

The otorongo – or jaguar – is the largest cat in the Americas and 3rd largest in the world (behind the Siberian tiger and the African lion) and can reach up to 260 pounds! In this region they call them “tigres” just as some folk call the puma or cougar “lions” back in the states.

We’ve had great success capturing and radio collaring peccaries and macaws but the big cats have been our Achilles’ heel. Even though we tried various techniques, we had only been able to capture a handful over the four years the AREAS Amazonia project had been active. We weren’t alone, as few other studies have been able to capture any big cat in the Amazonian rainforests. However, we knew the cats were there and so we called in a world renowned expert to help us trap them.