Jaguars: Brazil's Super Cats Natural World

The jaguar.

South America's most powerful, yet secretive, big cat.

Every single time I see a jaguar, it's kind of magical.

When people come here, what they really want to see is the jaguar.

So how do you get to know one of the world's most elusive animals?

In Brazil, a pioneering team is attempting to do just that.

And they're starting to reveal unique insights into their lives.

But now, Brazil's jaguars are under pressure.

Their world is colliding with ours.

In an urgent effort to help,

the team must try to teach two rescued orphans to live in the wild.

I'm struggling to believe that we're actually doing this.

This is unique. In Brazil, nobody has ever done this before.

To succeed, they will need to get closer to Brazil's

top predators than anyone before.

Away from Rio and Brazil's bustling cities,

there is a truly wild country.

At its heart lies the world's greatest wetland - the Pantanal.

Each year, seasonal rains create a haven for wildlife,

covering over 70,000 square miles.

The jaguar is the top predator here.

They're renowned for their hunting skill.

Jaguars stalk and ambush prey,

ranging from large deer to capybara.

Unlike most cats, they'll even catch and kill their quarry in the water.

But the Pantanal is no pristine wilderness.

Over 90% is privately owned.

Cattle ranching is big business.

And for jaguars, cattle are easy prey.

Conflict between these cats and local ranchers

is a real threat to the jaguar's future.

And with Brazil's urban population growing, there's a new problem.

Cities are spreading into the wetlands...

..which means that jaguars are being pushed into our world.

Dr Rogerio Cunha is from the carnivore research

and conservation team of the Brazilian government.

He is investigating an extraordinary incident,

where two young cubs and their mother ended up in the city.

This is the exact location where the accident happened.

This is all floating, it had water all over the place.

And the jaguar came.

She brought one cub, then went back to the other side of the river,

brought the other cub.

Water everywhere, so she climbed this tree with the two cubs.

So she was very tired.

And then people start coming so there was a big, big crowd.

The female had rescued the cubs from the rising flood,

but with so many people around, the local authorities had to act.

They decided to dart her with anaesthetic so they could move her.

But it didn't go to plan.

She fell from the tree into the water below.

The rescue team tried desperately to revive her, but she was beyond help.

Apparently, it was too late for the mother.

She was dead.

And her cubs, two little sisters,

were too young to survive without her.

What could we do about those two cubs?

They're very young, they're very vulnerable.

They're orphans already.

The cubs' situation highlights the problems facing Brazil's jaguars.

Brazil has more jaguars than anywhere else on Earth,

but the populations are fragmented

and scattered through this vast country.

Each year, as they lose natural habitat,

their numbers are dropping.

The jaguars in Pantanal are classed as vulnerable

but populations in the north-east and in the coastal rainforests

are critically endangered.

In Brazil, every jaguar counts.

The two orphaned cubs are now nine months old.

With only each other for company, they formed a close bond.

They're fit and healthy, and could help bolster wild populations.

But jaguars have never been successfully returned to the wild.

Rogerio wants to do the impossible

and try and get them back to the wild.

He knows of a pioneering new project in southern Pantanal,

which might be the lifeline these cubs need.

The jaguar's secretive nature means much of their lives are a mystery.

But one team is changing all of that.

The Oncafari Project

is coordinated by a field biologist, Lilian Rampim...

..and co-founded by Mario Haberfeld.

They've been following a group of wild jaguars,

and seen things completely new to science.

SHE SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

Including these surprising shots.

We don't know exactly why the jaguars use this tree,

but we believe that it's like a territory, actually,

because they came, they mark everything, they smell everything.

And they chew it a little bit, and then they climb down.

So I guess it's just an expansion of their territories.

The team are getting to know individual jaguars...

..and following them more intimately than ever before.

They're the first people to get cameras into a wild den.

Revealing astonishing views of six-day-old cubs.

They've seen that female jaguars are particularly diligent parents.

And discovered that the jaguar cubs here seem to have

a very high survival rate compared to other big cats.

Getting these extraordinary insights is a remarkable achievement.

This new-found knowledge will be essential for trying to return

the orphaned sisters to the wild.

Tonight, Lili and the team are heading out on an important mission.

They want to fit key jaguars with the latest radio collars

to track them more closely.

But first, they need to catch a cat.

THUNDER

They've laid foothold snares on jaguar trails and kills in the area.

And one has been activated.

For the team to get close, it needs to be sedated.

It's a large adult...

GUNSHOT ..and they recognise her.

It's Esperanza and this is great news for the team.

At eight years old, she is an experienced and successful cat,

who has raised several cubs.

It's an ideal chance to find out more

about the life of a wild jaguar.

There's just 30 minutes to fit her collar.

We are putting radio collars on these cats

because it's a really good way to follow them.

The collar is not a problem for a jaguar, they're quite light.

The jaguar's 100kg.

The collar weighs less than 1kg.

It's not the greatest technology,

but it's really, really efficient technology.

First, Esperanza gets a full health check.

Jaguars have the most powerful bite of any big cat.

One of her canines is broken.

It probably happened during a hunt.

The team vet has also noticed something very exciting -

an indication that she might be pregnant or even nursing cubs.

After only 20 minutes,

the anaesthetic is starting to wear off.

95kg of big cat is about to wake up.

JAGUAR GRUNTS

She's so strong that her body is fighting the drugs.

The collar will drop off after a year or so.

But before it does,

they will be able to follow Esperanza closely, hoping to

gather important new information, especially if she does have cubs.

The orphaned sisters from Corumba are now 16 months old.

The attempt to return them to the wild must start now.

Any older, and they'll become too reliant on being in captivity.

So Rogerio, Lili and the team have joined forces,

and they have an ambitious plan.

They're Pantanal jaguars, so if you're releasing them,

it would have to be in Pantanal.

Taking advantage of the dry season,

they're constructing a special enclosure, deep in the Pantanal.

The aim is to give them a taste of the wild

while they're still being looked after.

When you have an enclosure in the middle of this natural environment,

they have access to everything,

all kind of smells, prey and other jaguars.

The fencing needs to keep the orphaned sisters in

and wild jaguars out.

I definitely think that other jaguars will be very curious,

because it will be two different jaguars,

two different smells, new chemistry.

They will come to check, definitely.

Especially the males.

To stand a chance of success,

the team need to keep human contact to an absolute minimum.

They can't enter the enclosure once the cubs arrive.

Remote cameras will be vital to monitor how the orphans

progress over the coming year.

It's taken three months but at last the enclosure is ready.

The two orphans don't know it yet,

but their lives are about to change forever.

They have a nearly 20-hour drive ahead of them.

But first, there's a health check to pass,

and for that, they need to be tranquillised.

It's a good chance for Rogerio to see how they're doing.

A jaguar's teeth are the best indication of its age and health.

She's in great shape, great shape.

Meanwhile, Lili is making final checks to the enclosure.

I'm just thinking about the construction, if we miss something.

But I guess not. We always will feel like that, you know,

we always will feel that we miss something.

But, actually, we are ready.

As their journey starts, these two jaguars have suddenly changed

from being two lonely orphans

to becoming two of the most important big cats on the continent.

If this reintroduction works,

Rogerio knows it could be key to helping jaguars all across Brazil,

especially in areas where they're most under threat.

This experiment that we're doing here, it's going to teach us

how to rehabilitate cubs in order to release back in the wild.

And one of our goals is to learn this, to try and do this in

an authentic forest that the jaguars are extremely endangered.

They are very, very...

..few animals.

So by doing this, we could actually help the entire forest population.

The future of many other jaguars is now riding with these two sisters.

We made it! Yay!

After 1,240km

and 19 hours on the road,

we're exhausted.

Perhaps we're not as exhausted as the jaguars there,

shaking in the back of the van.

But we're all very happy

that we brought them finally to their new home.

They're coming.

This is the first time Lili has seen the orphans

she will care for over the next year.

I'm watching a jaguar crazy to leave this cage.

She is responding very well to the boys.

Aggressive.

They're pretty. They're so beautiful, jaguars.

Lili is determined to give these youngsters the very best

chance of a new life in the wild.

It's unfair for them.

They lose their mum so soon.

And it will be unfair on them to die in captivity.

They deserve to have a good life.

Their loss is something that Lili herself can relate to.

Unfortunately, this year, I had the same experience

that the jaguars did, losing their mum really soon,

and this year, I lost my mum as well.

And, for me, it's quite easy to understand right now what's

not having your mum around.

I am really lucky because my mum raised me.

They didn't have this opportunity to be with mum and learn.

And now they're suffering. They suffer every day.

So it's a really special project for me right now,

because I know the way that they're feeling.

Releasing them into the enclosure is a very special moment for them all.

SHE WHISPERS IN PORTUGUESE

The bigger and bolder sister

is the first to step into this strange, new world.

This is awesome.

To see them coming out...

..I have no words to say.

But it's so nice to see the two sisters exploring the new home,

very nice, very nice.

The orphans are back in the Pantanal, where they were born.

But there's months of work ahead

before they're ready for life in the wild.

THEY SPEAK PORTUGUESE

Now it's their turn.

Now it's the hard job.

No-one knows if this will work.

But at least now they have a chance.

The team will need to use everything they've discovered about jaguars

to try and help the orphans become truly wild cats.

As the orphans settle in,

the team turn their attention to another project.

They've had an innovative idea to see if they can get wild jaguars

to accept the presence of people and cars.

This is the first time where jaguars

are being habituated in Brazil to vehicles.

It's actually an old technique where they use in South Africa.

We adapt it to jaguars.

We adapt it to Pantanal.

They want tourists to come and see the jaguars,

giving them an economic value to the people who live here.

But basing a business on a notoriously elusive predator

seems, well, verging on the impossible.

They will need to work closely with individual cats

so collared females like Esperanza are key to the project.

Three months after her capture, they discover she's no longer alone.

Tucked against her side are two small cubs.

That night was really special.

We thought that she was going to be alone,

because we saw her a couple of times and she was always by herself.

So we weren't expecting two little cubs, all happy and jumping.

We were quite close, it was 20 metres away.

They were with their mum, the two tiny cubs.

At the time, we didn't know if they were male or female,

it was just two cubs, happy cubs.

Esperanza seems incredibly relaxed to have the team so close by.

She was laying down, they were starting to suck the milk,

until they fall asleep.

It's the sign to Lili and the team

that their plan to habituate wild jaguars might just work.

When they're old enough, Esperanza will teach her cubs to hunt.

But the two orphans don't have a mother to teach them.

And they won't survive unless they can catch prey by themselves.

So the team have to make a tough decision.

The project has been granted special licences

to capture wild prey for the orphans

but it doesn't make the job of feeding them any more comfortable.

To capture a live animal and offer it to these jaguars,

it's not the happiest job ever, obviously.

You need to face some demons to do this,

because you are responsible to finish their lives.

The reality is that the jaguars can't be released

unless they can fend for themselves.

It's the only way.

If I offered dead chicken or just a piece of meat,

they'll never understand that this animal over there means food.

If you're not offering live prey,

the chance of this whole project works is zero.

The sisters reveal their hunting instinct,

catching their own meal for the very first time.

It's a very huge step forward on their journey back to the wild.

The team believe jaguars prefer wild prey

but there's no denying that they also kill cattle.

This is Esperanza's territory.

And Lili's colleague, Leo, finds some intriguing evidence.

We have two marks.

The mum...

..and the little marks...

..the cubs.

Keen to see how they're doing,

they stake out the kill and wait for nightfall.

Slipping from the shadows, the family appear.

Once again, the jaguars allow the team to remain close by.

Now they can see first-hand

how an experienced mother teaches her cubs.

At six months old, the cubs are weaning.

Esperanza shows them what to do, but then she leaves them alone.

They must learn to work out things for themselves

to become independent.

Now, they just need to get on top of the situation.

The fact that jaguars kill cattle

is the greatest threat to their future here.

It's given these big cats a very bad reputation

with the people who work the land.

HE SHOUTS

Cattle ranching is one of the oldest industries of Pantanal.

Four million cattle are grazed across the region.

In some ways, cattle are Pantanal's saviour.

Ranching has stopped the land from being developed.

Killing jaguars here is illegal...

..but living alongside the predatory big cat isn't easy.

This ranch has stamped out hunting jaguars,

but, elsewhere in the region, it still goes on.

Reducing the conflict and changing attitudes towards these cats

is crucial for their future.

We need to find a way for farmers to understand that

you can have cows and jaguars in your property.

So we are showing them that the jaguar

is much more valuable alive than dead.

This is why the habituation plan is so important.

An ecotourism industry would show everyone here

that jaguars do have a value.

So far, the team's pioneering projects are going well,

but Pantanal is about to unleash a new challenge.

THUNDER ROLLS

The wet season breathes new life into the land.

But 80% of this vast wetland floods every year,

so following wild jaguars like Esperanza

becomes a lot more difficult.

This wet season is such a blessing to the environment,

to the jaguars, to all of the animals in the Pantanal.

And it's beautiful.

It's amazing to be here and see this landscape.

But, at the same time, it's awful for us...

cos it gets really more hard to find them.

And once you find them, through the GPS collar,

it's really hard to reach them and sometimes it's just impossible.

While the team try and find and habituate the wild jaguars here,

they are doing the exact opposite with the orphans...

and teaching them to become more elusive.

And, after seven months back in the Pantanal,

Lili is pleased with their progress.

The last time that I saw the jaguars was...

..seven days ago. Seven days ago.

They're healthy, bigger, with more muscle,

less belly.

Healthy, healthy jaguars, crazy to get out of here.

But they're not yet ready for life in the wild.

They need to prove that they can tackle

the most difficult prey of all.

A male capybara might look docile,

but they're expert swimmers with razor-sharp teeth.

This is one of the toughest quarries for any jaguar

and they must prove they can catch one.

-WHISPERING:

-The capybara is keeping really,

really still and that's the problem.

There's no sound, so the jaguars, they don't realise...

that there's a capybara over there.

The jaguars are now so secretive that the only way to see how

they hunt is with remote cameras.

We can see that the sisters are really, really different...

especially when it's the hunting time.

They show us that one is much more dominant,

she goes for it,

and the other one is more cautious.

But you can see that she is trying as well.

She's not laying down, looking to the sister to do all the jobs.

She's swimming, she's chasing the capybara.

They've never known life apart from one another

and seem to be figuring it out together.

They're helping each other, but obviously you can see that one

is much more dominant than the other.

They are still learning.

They didn't have their mum around to teach them.

It's not an easy position. They are becoming jaguars.

They are learning that.

Working as a team, they've passed this critical test,

but it's clear that one is a better hunter,

leaving the other to follow her lead.

They both need to be able to fend for themselves

if they are to survive in the wild.

Although the land is still inaccessible,

the team turn to the tree cameras

to see how Esperanza and her cubs are getting on.

At ten months old, the cubs are growing up fast.

Within the year, they will leave their mother

and they will have to be well-prepared.

They're not independent, but Esperanza taught them everything -

where to find food, where to live.

So I believe that, when these cubs leave the presence of the mum,

they will be just fine.

With such an attentive and experienced mother,

they're getting the best possible start in life.

As the wet season draws to a close, the team have made a decision -

the orphans will get their chance to live in the wild.

They need a final health check

and tracking collars to monitor their movements.

Fresh meat is used to lure them into the cells.

Then they back off and leave the jaguars alone for the night.

The next morning, there is worrying news.

One of the cats has injured itself.

It's an anxious wait until they can go and help.

-WHISPERING:

-I think it's going to be fine. It's just a matter of time.

But this waiting...

is killing me.

During the night, the bolder sister fought to get free and hurt

herself on the bars of the cage.

'They are so strong and they are so confident that they think,'

in their mind, they think that they're going to break the bar.

CHATTER

So they put - grr -

they are really, really strong and it's doing that...

happens to broke the teeth.

CHATTER

In a way, I guess it was better to happen with this one compared

to the other one...

because this one hunts so much better.

It is bad but I guess, in my opinion, could be worse

if it happens with the other one.

CHATTER

Esperanza has shown that a jaguar can still make a kill

with a broken tooth...

..but the smaller sister is showing signs

that she has had problems hunting.

These injuries are from difficult prey animals.

She's clearly struggled to take them down.

Despite these setbacks, the orphans are given a clean bill of health

and left to recover.

They have a final month in the enclosure to get used to the collars

before a very big step into the unknown.

The day has arrived.

After a difficult start in life, they're about to get their freedom.

Everything that Lili, Rogerio and the team have done

has built to this.

That moment of pulling up the cable...

..it was very, very...

I wouldn't say emotional, but a very strong moment, you know?

It's just like...

It's now.

Let's go. It's open now.

Now it's up to them.

I don't know how to describe this feeling.

I don't have words, actually.

I am struggling to believe that we are actually doing this, you know?

This is... This is unique in Brazil.

Nobody has ever done this before, so it's a huge responsibility.

We did our part outside, they did their best inside,

and what else we can do?

We just opened the door, my friend.

Yes, we did. We did open it.

We did open the door.

Any moment from now, they just can walk away.

-They have their life back.

-It's amazing.

I believe that both of them are going to live, I truly believe.

We underestimate nature.

We are always trying to protect them, protect them

and they just don't need that.

Good luck, girls.

They should be fine.

We need to trust on them, we need to believe them

and we need to believe that they're going to be fine.

Now to wait and hope that all the work they've done will pay off.

The remote cameras and data from their tracking collars

will reveal what happens next.

In the morning, the team gather,

anxious to see if the orphans have left the enclosure.

The first satellite points come in,

revealing where they are.

Oh!

Woo!

THEY SPEAK IN PORTUGESE

They're gone. They're gone.

-They're gone.

-They're by their own now.

We open the enclosure, we left the place

and they're gone...

You know? Just like that.

It was really fast.

The most interesting thing, when you look at the cameras,

the little sister came out to explore first...

..and she came out, like, without second thoughts.

Perhaps the smaller sister isn't so timid after all.

The other one was inside,

it was like trying to understand how she came out,

what she was doing outside.

It wasn't long before her bigger sister followed,

cautiously taking her first steps back in the wild.

From a small enclosure,

they now have hundreds of miles of wilderness at their feet.

The sisters will now need to find their own place

amongst the wild jaguars here.

The team's other project, habituating these wild jaguars,

is also proving a success.

A number of cats can now be watched closely from a vehicle...

..like this young female - Nuca.

For the project founders,

Simon Bellingham and Mario Haberfeld,

this is a sign their work is paying off.

As you can see, she doesn't even look at us.

She sees us almost every day and we don't represent any threat to her,

so she's very relaxed.

I think we're all very fortunate to be able to witness this.

There's not many people in the world

who have witnessed a wild jaguar by the car.

They're proving that, just like big cats in Africa,

Pantanal's jaguars really can be the foundation

of vehicle-based ecotourism.

And the cat that always steals the show...

..is Esperanza...

..and her two cubs, now 16 months old.

Jaguars like Esperanza are helping change hearts and minds

towards these predators,

even amongst the ranchers.

The cowboys nowadays realise the value of the jaguar...

..and they see the economic power that the jaguar has.

He still has his job as a cowboy,

but now his wife is working in the lodge as a cook,

his daughter is working, cleaning the lodge,

his son is becoming a guide...

..so now his whole family is employed,

thanks to this one animal.

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

It's a remarkable achievement

and one which will help many jaguars in the future.

Four days after the orphans' release,

the satellite collar reveals the smaller sister

has been staying in one spot.

The team wait for her to leave before venturing in to have a look.

To their great excitement, it's a kill.

'It was just amazing.'

We were there,

we saw this peccary, you know,

and I was impressed because it's a peccary.

Peccary is a dangerous animal.

She didn't waste any piece of meat - she ate everything.

She cleaned the carcass. There is nothing left.

It couldn't be better.

This success marks the final chapter in the two-year journey

of the orphans, from their dramatic rescue,

through their gradual re-wilding, to their release.

It's a journey that has been very personal for all those

involved from the start.

Having this opportunity of taking care of these two cubs

is a new hope, a new chapter...

..to protect jaguars.

It's a great honour.

I'm very honoured to be part of this team,

to be part of this project.

In the months that follow, the orphan sisters continue to thrive.

They both hunt wild prey successfully

and the camera traps reveal one of the sisters

has joined up with the dominant male in the area.

They have earned their place,

both in the hearts of Lili and the team and amongst the wild cats here.

For the first time, I can say that they are wild jaguars.

I couldn't say that when they are in captivity,

but, right now, they are wild jaguars.

This pioneering project has helped reveal the secrets of one of

the world's least-known predators.

And, with this knowledge, there is now new hope

for all of Brazil's supreme big cats.