(Buenos Aires) A female jaguar released in 2021 in Ibera National Park has given birth to two cubs born in the wild, a first in 70 years in this wetland in northern Argentina, an organization announced Thursday. defense of animals.
Posted at 7:06
“The reproduction of jaguars in the wild and the birth of new generations in the wild are an excellent signal for the project which seeks to stop the extinction of this species and nourishes the hope of regenerating a healthy population of jaguars in the Esteros de Ibera”, a wetland of about 12,000 km2 in the province of Corrientes, welcomed the Fundación Rewilding Argentina in a press release.
In recent weeks, the technical team had detected that the female jaguar (Panthera onca) remained in the same place, presumably to take care of newborns.
A camera later confirmed the two births, explained Magali Longo, coordinator of the Jaguar Reintroduction Center (CRY) located in the Park.
The two cubs are the fruit of the union of Arami, born in the CRY, and Jatobazinho, a Brazilian jaguar, given to the Argentinian project in 2019 and released at the end of December. The union was made in the wild.
Jatobazinho was the eighth jaguar released last year by the CRY, after three females and four cubs. All exhibit typical wild animal behaviors, with establishing territories and hunting for food.
“If the two newborns survive, which we will know in the coming weeks, the population of Ibera will number ten jaguars in the wild”, said Sebastian Di Martino, the director of conservation within the Foundation.
The CRY has been operating since 2012 in the province of Corrientes, where the species had disappeared for 70 years.
It is estimated that between 200 and 300 jaguars remain in Argentina. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the jaguar, a typical Latin American feline, is a “near threatened” species.