Nigel Marven travels to Brazil in pursuit of the
amazing jaguar in this action-packed six-part

series. Jaguar Adventure follows Nigel to the
Pantanal, the world’s biggest wetland and home
to the planet’s largest population of jaguars – the
least known of the big cats. In this episode, he
travels south to grasslands on the edge of the
swamp, meets a giant anteater and witnesses a
modern-day jaguar hunt.
Nigel Marven’s latest quest has brought him to the
swampland of the Pantanal in Brazil, home to a
stunning diversity of wildlife, including armadillos,
giant otters, iguanas and anteaters. In just four
weeks, Nigel hopes to get to know the vast array
of wildlife on offer and locate one beautiful but
hard-to-find mammal. Comparatively little is known about the jaguar because they are notoriously difficult to film. With their brilliantly effective camouflage, they blend into the foliage.
For the first few weeks of his adventure, Nigel has plied the waterways of the River Cuiabá and caught sight of jaguars on the prowl, realising his childhood dream of meeting these big cats in the wild. Now he hopes to learn more about the jaguar’s current plight by flying 600 miles south to the grasslands on the edge of the Pantanal.
This region of ranchers and cowboys has suffered massive deforestation over the last 50 years as farmers have cleared land for their cattle, leaving only a few pockets of dense forest. The reduction of the jaguar’s habitat has created a flashpoint between the ranchers and the big cats.
Before getting to the heart of the problem, Nigel stops off to view one animal that has benefited from the deforestation. In a field dotted with huge termite mounds, Nigel is thrilled to witness “one of the strangest creatures on the planet” – the giant anteater. These remarkable animals boast a famously long snout, shaggy fur and a huge tail.
Nigel spots one anteater mother carrying her baby on her back and ventures closer for a better look.
Although almost blind, anteaters are blessed with keen hearing and a sense of smell around 40 times better than that of a human, so Nigel takes care to stand downwind of the animal. “These pastures studded with termite mounds are the perfect place for anteaters – a big restaurant,” he whispers. The dish of the day for this hungry mother is termites – and lots of them; adult anteaters can hoover up as many as 30,000 insects a day.
Nigel then travels to an ecological refuge to learn more about the crisis facing the big cats. In a region of small farms, ranchers says they are losing up to two cows a day to preying jaguars – at a cost of more than £60,000 a year. The cowboys respond by killing the predators. But some scientists and conservationists are attempting to halt the decline in jaguar numbers by fitting them with radio collars to track their movements.
Nigel joins a team of cowboys and scientists on a dawn hunt to collar a jaguar. The hunters use hounds to pick up the overnight scent of the big cats. Nigel admits he is nervous about the prospect of chancing upon a jaguar up close and personal. “It’s one thing to see them from the safety of a boat, but this is something else,” he says. “Everyone’s on edge.” Before long, they are racing through the undergrowth following the dogs’ calls. A desperate scramble to pick up the trail ends when the sun burns off the last of the scent, and the hunters must give up their quarry – for now.
However, the discovery of a fresh kill – a cow – provides a stark example of the problem facing conservationists. Nigel reflects on the possible solutions, including compensation for cattle killed. “The other solution,” he suggests, “is for the jaguar to be worth more alive than dead: ecotourism. Naturalists and tourists will pay handsomely to see the big cat and that in itself would compensate the ranchers.” It would seem there is some hope for the king of the Pantanal after all.