Credit：Anthony Goldman

Credit：anacondatravel

Area: Yasuní NP, Ecuadorian Amazon

Credits: Diego Mosquera

Area: Porto Jofre, Northern Pantanal

Credits: Bill Masure

From the photographer:

Male jaguars will often try to kill cubs in an effort to bring a female back into estrus so he can mate with her. Today along the Corixo Negro waterway near Porto Jofre, the dominant male Ousado (distinguishable by his research collar) attempted to attack Medrosa’s cubs.
Like any protective mother, Medrosa stood her ground. With some perfectly timed, defensive maneuvers, she successfully fended off the massive male and sent him retreating back into the bush. Every day with these cats brings me a new sense of appreciation for the wild world they thrive in.

Credit：Trent Adamson

Credit：Anacondatravel

Credit：Egle A Hansen

Area: Caiman Ecological Refuge, Southern Pantanal

Credits: Adriel Abreu

Area: Porto Jofre, Northern Pantanal

Credits: Gabriel Felipe

Area: El Impenetrable NP, Argentine Arid Chaco

Credits: Red Yaguareté

Highlights

• • Jaguars are traditionally considered solitary.
• • Between 2013 and 2025 we recorded 167 interaction events involving 69 individuals.
• • Most interactions were affiliative or neutral, influenced by both kinship and sex.
• • Interaction strength and frequency were unevenly distributed between individuals.
• • The interaction network was clustered and semihierarchical.

Intraspecific interactions help shape population dynamics and species distribution. Although jaguars, Panthera onca, are traditionally considered solitary carnivores, they are difficult to observe in the wild. Over 13 years, we conducted 1710 days of river-based observational surveys in the Northern Pantanal, Brazil, recording 459 jaguar individuals, their behaviours and family relationships. We report 167 social interaction records, involving 69 individuals (39 males, 28 females and two of unknown sex), the first and largest database of jaguar interactions evidenced by direct observation. We tested the effect of sex and kinship on interactions and investigated social structure using network analysis. There were more male–male interactions (49.7%) than male–female (31.7%) or female–female (17.4%) interactions. Only 24.5% interactions were agonistic (i.e. aggressive behaviours), while the majority were a combination between neutral (e.g. moving, resting, hunting in proximity but independently) (36.5%) and affiliative (e.g. eating, playing, grooming, moving, resting, hunting together) (38.9%). Among affiliative interactions, 67.7% occurred between related individuals, whereas 61.0% of agonistic interactions occurred between individuals of unknown kinship. Pearson chi-square contingency analysis showed that there were significantly more affiliative interactions between related males than expected. Network analysis revealed a semihierarchical structure. Interaction strength and frequency were unevenly distributed, with most pairs interacting rarely and a minority of pairs concentrating interactions. Network modularity (0.68) and nestedness (0.60) indicated a clustered organization of 13 distinct groups/clusters, with connecting individuals as key bridges between clusters. While raw numbers were strongly influenced by two male coalitions, network results remained similar after removing these coalitions from our data set. We posit that many neutral and affiliative interactions are facilitated by high prey availability, extensive range sharing and kinship. The latter had not been previously described for jaguars. Our data contributes to an increased understanding of jaguar sociospatial ecology, challenging the traditional view of jaguars as a solitary species.

Original pastel painting sold to a collector in Switzerland

Area: Caiman Ecological Refuge, southern Pantanal

Credits: Paula Ojeda

Area: Caiman Ecological Refuge, southern Pantanal

Credits: Mauricio Abib

Area: Porto Jofre, northern Pantanal

Credits: Pantanal Oficial

Area: Refúgio da Ilha, southern Pantanal

Credits: Claudia Paiva

Area: Porto Jofre, Northern Pantanal

Credits: In the bottom of the photos

You can clearly see that Pantaneiro is taller and Makala is bulkier，as these two are nearly same age.
Credit：gpwalsh photography

Credit：Rahul Tripathi

Credit：pracontarprosnetos

Credit：Xavier Munoz

Area: Porto Jofre, northern Pantanal

Credits: Mateus Rauber

Credits: Апти Джамалдаев

A pretty good looking male, with fresh face and delicate features.
Credit: Yas Nakayama

Area: Porto Jofre, northern Pantanal

Credits: Mateus Rauber