Conservationists first spotted a young male jaguar in 2022 roaming Argentina’s Formosa Nature Reserve. Camera traps later recorded the same individual in a forest tens of kilometers away, within El Impenetrable National Park, in northern Argentina’s Chaco province. After months of tracking, an expert team located the big cat and, in December 2024, sedated, collared and released it back into the wild. They gave it the name Tañhi Wuk. This marked another milestone in Argentina’s broader efforts to protect its small population of jaguars (Panthera onca), led by a team from El Impenetrable National Park, Formosa Nature Reserve, and the Rewilding Argentina Foundation, with support from biologists and veterinarians. These reserves, along with others such as the Iberá National Park, form part of the Gran Chaco, South America’s second-largest forest (after the Amazon) and yet one of its least protected. Poaching and habitat destruction over the last 40 years have decimated wildlife populations in the biome. But conservationists are working to reverse the trend. Collaring is a key part of jaguar conservation, providing vital data to guide protection efforts. Tañhi Wuk is the third collared male in El Impenetrable, bringing the total number of monitored jaguars there to five, including two females introduced last year. GPS tracking shows Tañhi Wuk hunts along the Bermejo River and crosses into Formosa province; both areas are threatened by illegal fishing and poaching. The tracking data help researchers intervene when jaguars leave the park, notifying landowners, educating them about the species, and offering support…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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