On September 13th, the tour guide Cristina Sartori, a graduate of the National University of Misiones (UNaM), captured an extraordinary moment: a jaguar (Panthera onca) swimming in the Iguazú River, under the Rivadavia Falls, in the heart of the Parque Nacional Iguazú.
The video, only about 30 seconds long, shows the feline walking among the rocks and plunging into the water, accompanied by the roar of the waterfalls and the exclamations of tourists who witnessed the event.
“Total excitement. Thank you God for allowing me to see your works,” Sartori expressed in her original post.
Pará: monitoring and presence in urban-jungle interface areas
Days before the sighting at the waterfalls, images of Pará, a female monitored by the Instituto Misionero de Biodiversidad (IMiBio). The specimen was seen roaming around houses in the 2,000 Hectares area, where the jungle borders urbanized areas.
According to Emanuel Grassi, director of IMiBio, Pará moves between the Parque Nacional Iguazú, the Army grounds, and Puerto Península, and occasionally enters inhabited areas, where dogs can become easy prey.
The jaguar: a critically endangered natural emblem
Historically, the jaguar inhabited from the río Colorado to the Yungas, the Gran Chaco, and the Selva Paranaense. Today, its presence is limited to three nuclei: the Misiones jungle, the Yungas of Salta and Jujuy, and some sectors of the Chaco.
In Corrientes, the reintroduction program in the Esteros del Iberá managed to return specimens to their natural environment.
The species is classified as “critically endangered” by the Administración de Parques Nacionales, due to habitat loss, poaching, and the decrease in natural prey.
Legal protection and joint actions for its conservation
The regime of Monumento Natural Nacional guarantees its maximum protection.
Since 2001, the jaguar has been protected by Law 25.463, declaring it a Monumento Natural Nacional, granting it the highest protection category.
In Misiones, the province with the highest density of specimens, efforts are coordinated between the provincial government, Parques Nacionales, NGOs like Red Yaguareté and Fundación Vida Silvestre, and international organizations like WWF.
Initiatives such as:
– Biological corridors in the Selva Paranaense
– Camera traps for population monitoring
– Community participation in habitat protection
The conservation of the jaguar not only involves protecting a charismatic species but also safeguarding the entire ecosystem it depends on. “Taking care of the jaguar is ensuring the health of the jungle,” specialists say, as this apex predator regulates herbivore populations and contributes to the biodiversity balance.
