We saw many Jaguar, in fact so many that only Pablo, our Guide, could keep them straight. So I decided to examine the patterns on their faces to see the differences. I wound up naming them, Adam, Bertie, Charles, Dottie, Eddie (or Edie), Fred, and George. We actually saw 8 individuals, but I can't seem to find Harry, who would be #8.

No luck, in fact none of the hunting Jaguar we saw were successful in catching Caiman or Capybara. One photographer/researcher said she witnessed a Jaguar and Caiman tug of war. The Caiman was hanging onto a tree. The Jaguar yanked and yanked until it finally walked off with both Caiman and tree!

Another Jaguar on the hunt

We arrived at Porto Jofre, at the end of the Transpantaneira in the evening. The next morning, we had the first of our many boatrides exploring the Cuiaba River. Here was had our first Jaguar sighting!

Another near miss

Yet another Jaguar in the Brazil Pantanal.

He is not as impressed as we were. I named this fellow Adam, Brazil Pantanal

This fellow I'm calling Charles.

Not sure why I like this photo so much. Caption should read, "If I can't see them, all those people in all those boats can't see me!" What we soon discovered was that radio connectivity made it possible for many (often up to 14) small motor boats like ours to converge on one Jaguar. It would be up to the boat drivers to maintain some semblance of order by not hitting other boats or getting in the way of anyone's line of sight. Quite a feat! That meant sudden lurching of our boat as we surged forward or back to avoid a crash or just to keep our place in the sometimes rapid current. After the first day of sitting many hours in the sun with 14 other boats and passengers keeping an eye on one sleeping Jaguar--we all agreed that another approach was needed. We would check out the known Jaguar sightings each day, watch for a while and then go seek out Giant Otters or take our chances in finding other Jaguar, Of course there were fascinating birds all along the way and sometimes monkeys.

The young Jaguar hunting

Our Jaguar is still sleepy and yawning away.

Fierce-looking yawn