Is reintroduction a tool for the conservation of the jaguar Panthera onca? A case study in the Brazilian Pantanal
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Is reintroduction a tool for the conservation of
the jaguar Panthera onca? A case study in the
Brazilian Pantanal
ROSE LILIAN GASPARINI-MORATO, LEONARDO SARTORELLO, LILIAN RAMPIM
CARLOS EDUARDO FRAGOSO, JOARES ADENILSON MAY JR, PEDRO TELES
M A R I O H A B E R F E L D , R O G É R I O C U N H A D E P A U L A and R O N A L D O G O N Ç A L V E S M O R A T O
Abstract To evaluate the feasibility of reintroduction as a survival of the species in this biome will depend on reduc-
tool for conservation of the jaguar Panthera onca, we ing jaguar mortality and reconnecting the subpopulations
adapted the IUCN soft release protocol to reintroduce two (Paviolo et al., ). However, some of these are isolated
jaguars in the southern Pantanal, Brazil. After being kept at and the cost of establishment of suitable corridors may be
rescue centres for months, the jaguars were moved to a prohibitive (Paviolo et al., ), and alternative strategies,
-ha enclosure with native vegetation on a , ha ranch such as supplementation and reintroduction, may be re-
in the Pantanal, where hunting is not allowed and prey is quired (Galetti et al., ).
abundant. In the enclosure, the animals were fed with meat, Reintroductions of apex predators, including the few
dead animals (roadkill) and then, progressively, live wild attempts to reintroduce jaguars, have generally been poorly
prey. After months, the jaguars were fitted with collars documented and measurement of failure or success has
equipped with GPS/VHF (recording one location per hour) been hampered by the lack of prior definition of expected
and accelerometers, and released in the same area. The outcomes (Breitenmoser et al., ). To evaluate reintro-
animals established residence near the enclosure, with duction as a tool for conservation of the jaguar, we adapted
home ranges, movement parameters, daily activity patterns the IUCN () soft release protocol to reintroduce two res-
and prey consumption similar to that recorded in previous cued jaguars in the southern Pantanal, Brazil (Fig. ). We
studies. Social interaction and reproduction indicated the chose this area based on five criteria: () rescued animals
reintroduction was successful, and that it can be a tool for were from the same region, () knowledge of the species’
the species’ survival in areas where the jaguar population biology in the Pantanal was available, including for the re-
is in decline. lease site (Cavalcanti & Gese, ), () availability of suit-
able habitat (de Paula et al., ), () prey availability
Keywords Brazil, home range, jaguar, Pantanal, Panthera
(Perilli et al., ), and () acceptance by the local com-
onca, reintroduction
munity.
Our expected outcomes were that the two jaguars would:
() prey on wild species (to evaluate this, we compared the
T he historical range of the jaguar Panthera onca has con-
tracted and many populations are now threatened (De
la Torre et al., ), including the subpopulations in the
species preyed upon with the reported feeding habits of ja-
guars in the same area; Perilli et al., ), () establish resi-
Atlantic Forest (Morato et al., ). The last c. indivi- dence (establishment of residence may be an indicator of
duals in this forest occur in seven subpopulations, and the acclimation, and jaguars have resident ranges; Rabinowitz
& Nottingham, ), () have similar home ranges and
movement to those reported for jaguars in the Pantanal
ROSE LILIAN GASPARINI-MORATO* (Corresponding author, orcid.org/0000- (Morato et al., ), () have daily activity patterns com-
0003-2885-0034), ROGÉRIO CUNHA DE PAULA ( orcid.org/0000-0003-1943- parable to that of resident jaguars, () exhibit social interac-
8320) and RONALDO GONÇALVES MORATO ( orcid.org/0000-0002-8304-9779)
Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade – Centro Nacional tions (Kanda et al., ), and () reproduce.
de Pesquisa e Conservação de Mamíferos Carnívoros, Estrada Municipal In June , during the flood season, a female jaguar and
Hisaichi Takebayashi 8600, 12952-011, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil
E-mail rose.morato@icmbio.gov.br
her two -month old female cubs were forced to seek refuge in
an urban area of Corumbá, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul,
LEONARDO SARTORELLO* ( orcid.org/0000-0001-7607-9577), LILIAN RAMPIM
( orcid.org/0000-0001-8121-3152), CARLOS EDUARDO FRAGOSO ( orcid.org/ in the southern Brazilian Pantanal, climbing a tree c. m from
0000-0001-8971-2896), JOARES ADENILSON MAY JR ( orcid.org/0000-0002- a house. An attempt to capture the jaguars resulted in the ac-
0007-9690), PEDRO TELES ( orcid.org/0000-0003-0754-2470) and MARIO
HABERFELD ( orcid.org/0000-0001-9360-6658) Associação Onçafari, São
cidental death of the mother. The two orphans were moved to
Paulo, Brazil a wildlife rescue centre in Campo Grande, where they spent
*Contributed equally months. We then moved them to a new facility in São Paulo
Received October . Revision requested December . state, with better infrastructure and minimum contact with
Accepted May . First published online March . people, where they stayed for months.
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use,
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. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605320000460
Oryx, 2021, 55(3), 461–465 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605320000460
462 R. L. Gasparini‐Morato et al.
FIG. 1 The estimated home
range (with % CI bands) of
jaguars Panthera onca and
in the southern Pantanal,
Brazil. Note the high overlap
in their home ranges.
Pre-release, the two jaguars were tested for all relevant in- home range and spatial overlap, we used months of tel-
fectious and parasitic diseases. At c. months old, having emetry data (June –September ). We also performed
been confirmed healthy, they were moved on July visual appraisals using images captured by a c. km grid
to a ha enclosure with native vegetation (Plate ) in the of camera traps. We observed that jaguar no. suffered
Caiman Ecological Refuge, a , ha private ranch in initial loss of weight but recovered days after release. The
Miranda, Mato Grosso do Sul (Fig. ). The ranch is a enclosure door remained open for months and both ja-
mixed enterprise, with cattle ranching and ecotourism. It guars returned several times. We fitted a continuous-time
follows jaguar-friendly best practices (Rampim et al., ), stochastic movement model (ctmm; Calabrese et al., )
and hunting is not allowed on the property. As a result, po- in R .. (R Core Team, ) to evaluate movement behav-
tential prey is abundant and the estimated density of jaguars iour and estimate home range. This method accounts for the
is c. per km (Soisalo & Cavalcanti, ). In the first inherent serial autocorrelation of our data and could handle
months in the enclosure the jaguars were fed meat and dead irregularities in the sample schedule (Fleming et al., ).
animals (roadkill), to facilitate acclimation. After this, live Range residence behaviour was checked by visual inspection
wild prey was captured and presented, one animal at a of a semi-variogram (function variogram in R). Movement
time. Prey was released into the enclosure through one of models were fit with maximum likelihood (function ctmm.
six guillotine gates. These gates were covered with wooden fit) and ranked based on the Aikake information criteria
plates to prevent the jaguars associating the arrival of food (function ctmm.select). We estimated home range condi-
with people. We observed that hunting was better after tional on the fitted model for both individuals using the
days without food. After months the two jaguars were akde function (autocorrelated kernel density estimator).
able to chase, surprise and kill all the animals offered. On We estimated spatial overlap using the overlap function.
a few occasions we offered two prey, of the same species, Daily activity patterns were evaluated using Activity Pat-
simultaneously, to evaluate hunting behaviour. In total, tern Software (Lotek, Newmarket, Canada) after recovering
the jaguars captured and consumed prey, including white- the accelerometer data from the GPS collars.
lipped peccaries Tayassu pecari, capybaras Hydrochoerus We adapted the method described by Cavalcanti & Gese
hydrochaeris, caimans Caiman yacare and feral pigs Sus () to identify prey consumed. When . consecutive
scrofa scrofa (Table ). After fitting collars equipped with locations were found , m from each other this was clas-
GPS/VHF, recording one location per hour, and acceler- sified as a kill site, where we then searched for prey remains
ometers, the jaguars were monitored for days inside the to identify the species. Social behaviour, interactions and
enclosure, to provide baseline data on activity patterns and reproduction were investigated by observation and camera-
social behaviour. trap images. Range residence was confirmed after visual
The two jaguars were released at c. months old, on inspection of a semi-variogram, months post release
June . To evaluate movement behaviour and estimate (Morato et al., ). Home range estimates were . km
Oryx, 2021, 55(3), 461–465 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605320000460
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. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605320000460
Reintroduction of the jaguar 463
TABLE 1 Total amount of meat consumed and dead and live prey
offered to the two female jaguars Panthera onca during days
in an enclosure in the Caiman Ecological Refuge, in Miranda,
Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
kg (no. of
carcasses/individuals)
Meat
Beef 137
Chicken 118
Pig 13
Dead prey
Capybara Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris 55 (2)
Giant anteater Myrmecophaga trydactila 30 (1)
Caiman Caiman yacare 23 (1)
Live prey
Capybara 400 (15)
White-lipped peccary Tayassu pecari 345 (16)
Caiman 185 (8)
Pig 110 (6)
Feral pig Sus scrofa scrofa 5 (1)
TABLE 2 Details of the and prey killed by female jaguars and
, respectively, after release (January –December ) and, for
comparison, the mean per cent of total prey killed by jaguars in an
earlier study in the southern Pantanal.
Female 1 Female 2 Mean % of
Prey (% of total) (% of total) kills (range)1
Caiman 32 (61) 18 (56) 36 (10–52)
Capybara 1 (2) 4 (12) 3 (0–17)
White-lipped 9 (17) 3 (10) 30 (0–57)
peccary
Armadillo Dasypus 1 (2) 3 (10) 2 (0–15)
novemcinctus
Coati Nasua nasua 5 (10) 2 (6) 2 (0–11)
Raccoon Procyon 1 (3) 1 (0–4)
cancrivorus
Crab eating fox 1 (3) 1 (0–3)
Cerdocyon thous
Giant anteater 2 (4) 4 (0–17)
Deer Mazama sp. 1 (2) 2 (0–5)
Bird 1 (2) 1 (0–3)
From Cavalcanti & Gese ().
(% CI .–.) for jaguar , and . km (% CI .–
.) for jaguar (Fig. ). Both individuals anchored their
home range around the enclosure and showed high spatial
overlap with each other (%, % CI –%; Fig. ). The
home ranges included areas with ecotourism and cattle PLATE 1 The ha enclosure in the Caiman Ecological Refuge
ranching activities, areas with wild prey, and well-preserved (Fig. ): (a) . m high eucalyptus posts, m apart; (b) cm
deep trench excavated around the perimeter of the enclosure and
natural vegetation. Directionality in movement paths, repre-
filled with cement, to prevent any animal digging into or out of
sented by the velocity autocorrelation timescale (h), were the enclosure; (c) c. m deep, m pond; (d) galvanized wire
. (% CI .–.) and . (% CI .–.) for jag- perimeter fence of . mm gauge and × cm mesh, with
uar and , respectively. Mean distances travelled per day electric wires at , and cm, both inside and outside
were . and . km for jaguar and , respectively. Daily and on the top of the fence; (e) aerial view.
Oryx, 2021, 55(3), 461–465 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605320000460
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. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605320000460464 R. L. Gasparini‐Morato et al.
As a pre-condition for reintroduction, the highest prior-
ity must be to address the threats that are causing jaguar
population declines. Firstly, some jaguar subpopulations
are proximal to areas where people are active, potentially
resulting in negative interactions. Jaguars involved in such
interactions are often killed by members of the affected
community (Inskip et al., ). In such areas, law enforce-
ment to prevent killing of jaguars, and alleviation of nega-
tive interactions with ranchers, are required and should
play a central role in planning any reintroduction (Caruso
& Pérez, ). Secondly, in areas that have undergone
deforestation (Ribeiro et al., ) or defaunation (Jorge
et al., ), it is important to evaluate habitat quality
and prey availability before establishing a reintroduction
programme. Thirdly, social interaction is a key compo-
nent. The absence of intersexual territoriality (Crawshaw &
Quigley, ) suggests that reintroducing female jaguars
is likely to increase the success of reintroductions in areas
where male jaguars are present. Fourthly, jaguars tend to
move in areas with which they are familiar, evidence of cog-
nitive capacity and spatial memory (Kanda et al., ), and
therefore building enclosures in the release area and keeping
individuals there prior to release may facilitate acclimation.
PLATE 2 (a) Jaguar with her – month old cub, photo-trapped
Fifthly, the cost of reintroduction needs to be compared to
in December , and (b) Jaguar and her two – month old
cubs, photo-trapped in December .
alternative strategies. The total cost for reintroducing the
two female jaguars was c. USD ,, without considering
activity was similar to that previously reported for jaguars, the costs of previous studies of the species’ behaviour in
with both individuals moving (hunting and transiting) dur- the same area. This reintroduction was in an area where
ing the night and resting during the day (Kanda et al., ). spatial ecology, habitat and prey preferences were known
We identified species preyed upon by the two jaguars (Cavalcanti & Gese, , ; Morato et al., ). In
(Table ). Social interactions were observed between the the Atlantic Forest on the Argentina–Brazil border the
two jaguars and nine other individual jaguars), including main strategy for the southernmost jaguar subpopulation
mating, fighting and paired movement. Jaguar gave birth was to reduce persecution and poaching by means of edu-
to a cub in c. June and jaguar gave birth to two cubs in cation and law enforcement. The annual cost of the pro-
c. August (Plate ). gramme was c. USD , and after years the jaguar
The two jaguars established residence near the enclo- population increased from an estimated to individuals
sure, with home ranges, and movement and activity patterns (Paviolo et al., ).
similar to those reported for free living individuals (Morato In conclusion, reintroduction can be an important tool
et al., ), and prey consumption similar to that recorded in areas where the jaguar population is in severe decline.
in a previous study in the same area (Cavalcanti & Gese, It is the only option where the species has been extirpated
), including a high consumption of caimans. The exhib- and the management goal is reintroduction, residency and
ition of social interactions, and reproduction, indicate that recovery. This study defines some of the practices and para-
the reintroduction was successful. meters that led to a successful outcome in the Pantanal.
The main objective of a reintroduction is usually to re-
establish or supplement an extinct or declining population
Acknowledgements We thank Centro de Reabilitação de Animais
(Cheyne, ). We released two individuals in an area
Silvestres de Campo Grande and Instituto de Meio Ambiente de Mato
where jaguars are not facing a high risk of extinction Grosso do Sul for rescuing the jaguars; Mantenedor Santa Rosa for
(Morato et al., ) and threats are low. Our intention was hosting and caring for them; Caiman Ecological Refuge for allowing
to evaluate a protocol that could be applied to other subpo- us to build the training facility and release the jaguars on their prop-
pulations across the species’ range, and specifically for the erty; Alexandre Bossi, Camila Martins, Écio Silva, Fernando Von
Zuben, Márcia Reed, Pedro Lacerda Camargo, Raphael Klabin,
Critically Endangered subpopulation of the Atlantic Forest
Robert Kozmann Jr, and Roberto Klabin and Instituto SOS Pantanal
(Morato et al., ). Despite the success of this reintroduc- for their support; Log Materials and Bushnell Corporation for donat-
tion in the Pantanal we need to be cautious in using this tool ing camera traps; and Tetrapak for donating materials to build the
for the species’ long-term survival. enclosure.
Oryx, 2021, 55(3), 461–465 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605320000460
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. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605320000460Reintroduction of the jaguar 465
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