Jaguars are identified to be robust swimmers
Matthias Graben/imageBROKER RF/Getty Pictures
Digicam traps present that an grownup male jaguar swam at the least 1.3 kilometres to an island within the reservoir of the Serra da Mesa dam in central Brazil – by far the longest recorded swim by certainly one of these animals.
In reality, it’s doable the jaguar swam practically twice as far. Reaching the island would have required both a 1-km swim to a smaller island, adopted by the 1.3-km swim, or a 2.3-km direct swim from the mainland with no cease.
“We’re being conservative by assuming that this cat did use a small island on the way in which as a stepping stone,” says Leandro Silveira on the Jaguar Conservation Fund in Brazil. “It might in reality have swum the two.3-kilometre straight line.”
The jaguar was snapped by a digicam entice
Leandro Silveira/Jaguar Conservation Fund, Brazil
Silveira says that, so far as he is aware of, that is the longest swim by any large cat that has been confirmed by direct proof. Jaguars are identified to be glorious swimmers that may even hunt caimans in water. Nevertheless, till now, there have been no stories of them swimming greater than 200 metres at a time, says Silveira.
In 2020, his staff arrange a number of digicam traps across the Serra da Mesa Dam. In Could of that 12 months, an grownup male was photographed on the mainland. 4 years later, in August 2024, the identical cat – recognized by its distinct coat sample – was recorded by a digicam on the island.
This comes after a collared cougar made a 1.1-km swim to Squaxin Island off the coast of Washington state, and sightings counsel cougars within the space swim as much as 2 km to some islands. Two male lions have been additionally filmed swimming throughout a waterway in Uganda final 12 months, with the gap estimated to be between 1 and 1.5 kilometres. In that case, the motivation was considered reaching females that have been calling on the opposite aspect.
Why the jaguar made such an extended swim isn’t clear. “The island is comparatively small,” says Silveira. “So far as we all know, there isn’t a ample prey on the island that may be a big attraction.”
Jaguars can in all probability swim loads additional. There’s a inhabitants on the Maracá–Jipioca islands greater than 5 km off the coast of Brazil that’s thought to have interbred with mainland jaguars.
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