Wild Jaguars (Panthera onca): Ecotourism and Habituation

Today I want to conclude with big cats, but, first, it has been an actioned packed few days.  My computer broke last week, which is why I have not been posting.  But now we are back on-line and intend to focus in on two áreas that seem of great interest to the readership in future articles: the environment, and your environment, that is, your relationships. So let's get started with the first.

Last week Mrs Beaumont gave me a special treat for finishing the first part of the clincial year at university.  We booked a Jaguar (Panthera onca) safari to the Pantanal, specifically to Porto Jofre (PJ).  It's the weirdest place. You drive along a dirt track through the jungle for three hours and then you come to an airstrip and a river and the road stops. A word on me and jungles: they don't scare me; they fascinate me. I am not put off by the heat, the unpredictability of logistics or the biting inescts. I am too fascinated by the diversity of life around me, and excited by the prospect of what could be slithering around the next corner. I have studied jungles like pick up artists study women.  Yes, jungles turn me on (but not in that way).  So do big cats.

I have seen Swamp Cats (Felis chaus) in Isreal, Clouded Leopards (Neofelis nebulosa) in Malaysia and, in the Pantanal of Brazil, Pumas (Puma concolor) and Ocelots (Felis pardalis).

Zoo Vets' Casebook: I have carried out physical examinations on two Brazilian cats and here's what I learned

• Ocelots: they are sneaky.  They swipe and bite your Achilles' tendo. Use chain saw leggings!

• Jaguar cubs: you can begin a partial examination with a three-month old, usin physcial restraint.  I am joking.  Use chemical restraint otherwise you may be wasting your time.

So on Saturday night we were in a clean-but-basic guest house in Poconé and at 3am Sunday morning we were in the pick-up on our way to PJ.  We got there and were in the boat by 6:30am.  There is something you need to know about the naturalist in me if you ever come on tour with me: I am hardcore. I like to be in position at 6am, not on my way at 6:30am. However, I was with other people and didn't want to argue.

Our guide, Junior, was anxious and I could tell this was his first such tour - we had booked a Jaguar Safari with him. He was probably curious as to why I was not marvelling at the nature around us.  There is a very good reason for this. I have dedicated several years of my life to studying this regions's nature and today was for spotting Jaguars.  So the Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus), the Jabiru Storks (Jabiru mycteria), even the Hyacinth Macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus), all were ignored today!

And the day delivered!  I was expecting several split-second glimpses.  After eight hours we rounded a bend in the river and there was a Jaguar standing on the river bank 20 metres away like a sheep!  We followed him for two hours and watched as he stalked two Spectacled Caiman and two capivara, unsuccessfully. The boatman radioed colleagues and withi five minutes there were six boats and 50 tourists looking on.

Analysis.  This kind of tourist is only possible three months of the year. Why?  This is the Tropics, and we get two seasons here: the wet and dry. July, August and September is the dry season.  Rainfall ceases.  Riverine water levels drop, wildlife accumulates around dwindling water sources, and numbers of Capybara and Spectacled Caiman build up.  That is the Jaguars' prey-bas right there. Jaguars are nocturnal, and this one was hunting in the heat of the afternoon.  I have never seen a wild predator hunting so desperately.  So this animal was hungry.  I think the population must be incredibly dense, contributory factors being that the habitat is available and there is a prey base.  I think the possibility that the PJ Jaguars have become habituated to the presence of humans is a certainty.  And the perceived lack of regulation of ecotousism: is it imoral or unethical? Well, the only way to be sure is to study hunt/stalk success rates in the wild, and that would be really hard to do. Another way would be to radiocollar individuals to see if those hunting in non-crowded conditons enjoy a greater frequency of hunting success than those habituated animals having to do their hunting surrounded by onlookers.

People. From what the guides told me, there are two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) operating in the region. 

• Panthera is American and the content of its web site states that it is involved in a Jaguar corridor project. The guide pointed out its buildings along the river. I wanted to drop in but they sais the place is closed to the public. On the way out for the afternoon I said to the boatman that I wanted to stop there, He agreed but when the time was right I could no longer be bothered with introductions, I was too happy.
• Jaguar Research Center. These seem to be involved with identification of identification of individual animals.