The jaguars fishing in the sea to survive
Source: The Guardian
The jaguars fishing in the sea to survive
The big cats’ resourceful new behaviour was recorded by a WWF study on a remote island off the coast of Brazil
by Phoebe Weston
Sat 21 Dec 2019 09.00 GMT
A thriving population of jaguars living on a small, unspoilt island off the coast of the Brazilian Amazon has learned to catch fish in the sea to survive, conservationists have found.
The Maracá-Jipioca Ecological Station island reserve, three miles off the northern state of Amapá, acts as a nursery for jaguars, according to WWF researchers who have collared three cats and set up 70 camera traps on the remote jungle island.
Although jaguars have previously been spotted catching fish in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands, this is believed to be the first evidence the elusive creatures have been jumping in the sea to catch prey.
“This is the first time that behaviour has been spotted in the Amazon,” said Marcelo Oliveira, senior programme officer at WWF Brazil, who is leading the NGO’s first jaguar-collaring research. “On the way [past the camera], the jaguar was dry and on the way back it was wet and had a moving fish in its mouth.” He believes a big proportion of their diet is likely to be fish.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/21/the-brazilian-jaguars-sea-fishing-to-survive-aoe
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