[Leica] Jaguars Part 1

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

These are photographs taken of jaguars in and around the Cuiaba River,
taken from motorboats, the core objective of our photo safari. We saw quite
a few, but surprisingly all males, except for one female who was there as
part of a mating pair. The Pantanal sub species is the largest of the
jaguar, mainly due to abundant large prey, mainly Capybara, Marsh Deer,
Caiman and Cattle - the last because most of the Pantanal has very poor
soil, only fit only for grazing, so the place is full of cattle ranches,
and has been for close to 200 years, so cattle has become entrenched as a
core part of the Pantanal Jaguar's diet. Overall, the jaguar, like the
leopard in Africa/Asia, is an opportunist and will eat practically anything
edible that comes its way.

We will start with a jaguar locally called Mick Jaguar, because of a rakish
look due to something wrong with one of his eyes. He is the jaguar who
stalked, attacked and killed a caiman in front of many boats, and the video
footage of which went viral a couple of years ago. His eye problem does not
hinder his hunting apparently, as can be seen from his full belly in the
second shot:

Resting:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Brazil/Pantanal/Pantanal-20160818-12318.jpg.html

Full Belly:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Brazil/Pantanal/untitled-20160818-12166.jpg.html

This is the only female I saw, as one half of a mating pair:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Brazil/Pantanal/untitled-20160816-9994.jpg.html

A male on purposeful walkabout, who then descended down to water's edge to
have a drink, but seemed slightly put off by commotion caused by the boats
around him:

Walkabout:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Brazil/Pantanal/untitled-20160816-9192.jpg.html

Rest 1:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Brazil/Pantanal/untitled-20160816-8917.jpg.html

Rest 2:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Brazil/Pantanal/untitled-20160816-9000.jpg.html

Another male on walkabout on the river's edge, in altogether better light.
He was part of another mating pair, but we only got glimpses of the female,
as she stayed hidden in the tall grass in the background

Movement:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Brazil/Pantanal/untitled-20160816-9346.jpg.html

Eye Contact:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Brazil/Pantanal/untitled-20160816-9365.jpg.html

Late in the evening one day, we saw this big boy totally at ease with
himself - and the commotion caused by the flotilla of boats in front of him!

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Brazil/Pantanal/Pantanal-20160819-13380.jpg.html

Please see LARGE

Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome

Cheers
Jayanand