Pantanal

Pantanal Dennis Craggs August 2025

nal up is trees the including world's largest one attempting tropical wetland, an into unsuccessful vast with some difficulties to Brazil to travel thea Pantanal with Joe Van Os Safaris, an American company. The Pantanal is rness from tree central onto Brazil an unsuspecting on the borders of Jaguar Boliviahave and orld'sain largest tropical wetland, a caiman. vast wilderness in central Brazil on the borders of Bolivia and Paraguay. Its low land, e uay. markings.

Its low land,Incidentally, formed from they anthe ancient don’tsea, roar floods but in draining out into the Paraguay river. It is known for its incredible d from an ancient sea, floods in rainy season, slowly ainy ently season, yawn, which slowly candraining look equally out dramatic. into the Paraguay fe, including the world’s largest concentration of crocodilians, the Yacare Caiman, the powerful jaguar, the world’s largest It aispopulation known forofits incredible wildlife, including the otter and the capybara, the world’s largest rodent. th about 4,000 to 6,000, the giant river e’sdry largest season, concentration as it was during of crocodilians, our visit, the the Yacare floods an, e and theCuiabá, powerful the jaguars jaguar, concentrate the world’s onlargest the river cat banks a 140 km on a single dirt road to reach our lodge on the banks of the ew to capital of Matte Grosso state, andwith bussed eation theirof prey, about including the to 6,000, caiman, the capybara giantfive river and otter Cuiabà and Rio4,000 São Lourenço, spending days in river excursions to explore the wildlife. We spotted several jaguars he heycapybara, are therefore world’s adapted as rodent.

We flewand to day along thethe banks.

Notlargest all excellent were in swimmers photogenic locations but notably a number were found up trees including one rful á, capital enough ofto Matte kill caiman Grosso bystate, afrom single and bite bussed to the 140 spinal km pting an unsuccessful jump a tree onto an unsuspecting caiman. Jaguar have unique markings. Incidentally, they inglebut dirtfrequently road to reach our lodge onlook the equally banks ofdramatic. the roar yawn, which can Cuiabà and Rio São Lourenço, spending five days in excursions toas explore wildlife. dry season, it wasthe during our visit, the floods recede and the jaguars concentrate on the river banks where their prey, ing the caiman, capybara and otter live. They are therefore adapted as excellent swimmers and powerful enough to kill n by a single bite to the spinal cord.

ding d 40the to 50 bank kg,and while disappearing females grow into the to 1.4m undergrowth. long and arger 15common to one 20pictured kg.

Its here diet primarily out of the water, of Caiman. aquatic I am Males grow to a total length of 2–3m and weigh around 40–50 kg, while ost caiman in theleaping Pantanal isconsists the Yacare es toas1.4m long and about 15–20 kg. vertebrates Itswould diet primarily consists of aquatic animals, such as snails, and occasionally land ure ls,grow is such a Yacare snails, Caiman and and occasionally whether aland jaguar be rates and here with a fish!

We witnessed jaguar kill a caiman under water adjacent to the bank and swim across the ere le of pictured taking with itpictured out! a fish!

He was leaping to take a afish with before ascending the bank and disappearing into the undergrowth. Here are some other photos of caiman. The larger one I d byitour guide!

t sure is a Yacare Caiman and whether a jaguar would be capable of taking it out! He was leaping out of the water to take a fish nted by our guide!

sher s. Onbeing the last the pages largestfollowing and mostI have common included of the a potted er . My of technique photos a lot ofof bird-life Kingfishers. developed in theenough Pantanal There are in that time fiveIto have species capture included of here and attempted to identify aided by Google Images. sher r twoincoming the Pantanal: out of the thewater Ringed with Kingfisher, a fish but Amazon it was sher, easier e lastGreen by pages theKingfisher, guide following having IGreen have provided and included Rufous the meal. a number Kingfisher, of photos of Kingfishers. There are five species of kingfisher in the he nal: American the Ringed Pygmy Kingfisher, Kingfisher.

Amazon Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, Green-and-Rufous Kingfisher, and the American Pygmy esher. photo These is of abirds Grey are Heron. a common and captivating sight in the region's abundant rivers and swamps, with the Ringed sher being the largest and most common of the group. My technique developed enough in time to capture one or two g out of the water with a fish but it was made easier by the guide having provided the meal.

ructs members, extensive centred camp on asites dominant close breeding to feeding pair. areas, It is cooperative. ng iantlarge otter amounts is aIts carnivorous population of vegetation. mammal. has been ItItgreatly subsists is a social reduced almost species, with family groups typically supporting three to eight members, ed cades ively on on of a dominant poaching a diet of breeding for fishits but velvety may pair,also pelt. andeat arecrabs, extremely turtles, cohesive and cooperative. Its population has been greatly reduced by sesand of small poaching caimans. for its velvety pelt. It is also adapted to an amphibious lifestyle, including exceptionally dense fur, a wingail, and webbed feet. It constructs extensive camp-sites close to feeding areas, clearing large amounts of vegetation. It ts almost exclusively on a diet of fish but may also eat crabs, turtles, snakes and small caimans.

stincluded of species these.here are currently some photos recognized, of the other including mammalian one of and reptilian wildlife we spotted. argest snakes in the world, E. murinus, the green potted baras nda. This thrive theiscapuchin anear Yellow themonkeys or water's Paraguayan edge, shownwith anaconda. heretheir and high-set also All howler five monkeys although I did not get acceptable photos of these. and es are webbed aquatic feetsnakes suiting that a semi-aquatic prey on other lifestyle. aquatic They baras ls, primary including thrive food near fish, source the riverwater's for fowl, predators and edge, caiman. with like their Videos jaguars high-set exist and eyes and webbed feet suiting a semi-aquatic lifestyle. They are a acondas ry ns,food though source preying their foron population predators domesticlike is animals jaguars also threatened such and as caimans, goats by though their population is threatened by habitat destruction. Here at ometimes companied destruction. even

by Here ayoung Tyrant it is jaguars fly accompanied catcher thatfeeding venture by aon Tyrant too its parasites. close Fly eer water. feeding on While its parasites. encounters between people and ondas ndas may are abe semi dangerous, aquatic group they of dosnakes not regularly found inhunt tropical South America. Three to five extant and one extinct species are ntly ns. hotorecognized, above shows including a Tegu lizard, one ofpossibly the largest a Gold snakes Tegu in the world, E. murinus, the green anaconda. This is a Yellow or uayan similaranaconda. species within All fivethe species Tupinambis are aquatic or Salvator snakes that prey on other aquatic animals, including fish, river fowl, and a. n. Videos exist of anacondas preying on domestic animals such as goats and sometimes even young jaguars that venture ose to the water. While encounters between people and anacondas may be dangerous, they do not regularly hunt ns.

hoto below shows a Tegu lizard, possibly a Gold tegu or a similar species within the Tupinambis or Salvator genera.

is Craggs