Living in the wild together with jaguars, maned wolves and many other species allows our team to spot the life and complexity of such amazing animals. We catch the most beautiful moments but also those not as beautiful ones. Death is one of those examples.
Last year we found the full skeleton of an adult jaguar on the edge of a water hole in a very isolated area. The death cause is unknown since there were only bones left with no marks of any kind. In their natural habitat jaguars die of old age or because of fights with other jaguars or even due to serious wounds made by their preys, like the big claws of a giant anteater or the sharp teeth of a peccary.
This rare encounter became a big opportunity. Every single bone was collected and sent to a company called AnatoVet, which is located in a university in the south of Brazil (UNISUL). They are specialized in rebuilding full skeletons and after 5 months of hard work from Fernando Garbelotti and Vitor Anacleto’s team, this jaguar can now be seen standing again. It’s coming back to Pantanal with a new role at the protection of all living jaguars in the region: it will educate children and adults, fascinate more people and contribute to the big task of nature conservation. It will go even further since every single bone was scanned in partnership with Darabas veterinarian hospital, in Santa Catarina, Brazil, and soon the jaguar’s skeleton will be able to be 3D printed by any university, museum or school with educational purposes.
Long live the jaguars and and thanks to this individual found knowledge and the message of conservation can now go even further. This is our tribute to this individual that once lived on our forests being the free animal that all jaguar deserves to be.
