In the previous letters, we told you where we came from and how the forest is studied. This one is about an April night. And about what appeared in it.
One of the camera traps installed in the Jardim da Amazônia Reserve recorded a black jaguar crossing the forest in the darkness. It was not a lucky click. It was the result of a year of quiet monitoring carried out here by Projeto Jaguar ID.
A rare form, in an unlikely place
A black jaguar is not another species: it is the same jaguar, in its melanistic form. As biologist Fernando Tortato of Panthera explains, melanism comes from a dominant gene that darkens the coat and conceals its characteristic spots. It is rare in nature, which is why each record matters.
Jardim lies in the Arc of Deforestation, a belt south and east of the Amazon marked by the conversion of native forest. Even in this context, monitoring cameras continue to record jaguars and other animals in the area maintained by the property.
A jaguar in the Arc of Deforestation is not a coincidence. It is an asset of a forest that someone kept standing.
Not one jaguar, but a family
The black jaguar was the image that drew attention, but it did not come alone. In one year of monitoring, Projeto Jaguar ID identified at least four males and two females there. Where almost no forest remains around it, the reserve functions as territory for several jaguars at the same time.
For Projeto Jaguar ID, the records reinforce the importance of the area for monitoring the species in a landscape where forest has been lost around it.
That is why we speak of conservation first. The jaguar’s presence depends on habitat, prey and space; at Jardim, monitoring helps document how these animals use the area.
In the press: G1 · “Black jaguar captured by project cameras at an inn in the interior of Mato Grosso.”
This was the third letter. In the next ones, we will open other gates of the Garden with you: bird seasons, rates and the behind-the-scenes work of conservation.
For agencies and partners who would like to bring their travelers closer to this story, just get in touch. We continue caring for this refuge, and it will be a joy to open its gates to your travelers.
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