The wildlife of Mato Grosso’s Pantanal is a harmonious universe of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects, unique in the world for its extraordinary and teeming beauty.
Animals from different ecosystems coexist in the Pantanal – and there are few places in the world where it is so easy to see them in the wild.
They’ve been there for a long time: in caves and limestone grottoes on the edge of the Bodoquena mountain range, traces have been found of the animals that dominated the Pantanal plain before the last glaciation around 12,000 years ago – including the sabre-toothed tiger (Smilodo popudator) and the giant sloth (Eremotherium lundi).
The richness of the fauna continues. For thousands of years, a series of favourable conditions have made the Pantanal one of the richest wildlife refuges on the planet.
Although it doesn’t have many endemic species, being a confluence of biomes, its territory is home to a fabulous number of migratory animals and others typical of the Cerrado and tropical forests.
The numbers are impressive. There are an estimated 665 species of birds, 263 species of fish, 95 species of mammals, 162 species of reptiles and 1132 species of butterflies.
3.9 million caimans, 400,000 capybaras and tens of millions of birds have been recorded.
These animals can be seen near the farms, on the roads, on the banks of rivers, streams, corixos and bays, even by those who do not have special equipment.
WILDLIFE OF THE MATOGROSSENSE PANTANAL
60 Espécies da Fauna do Pantanal
1. JAGUARS AND OTHER MAMMALS
The main attraction of the Pantanal is the ease with which you can see wild animals living in freedom. Some, however, are more skittish.
It’s not often you see a jaguar, for example – but those who do will never forget the majestic beauty of the largest cat in the Americas.
The largest jaguars can weigh over 120 kilos.
Onça-pintada no Pantanal Matogrossense
It is estimated that there are more than 20,000 jaguars in the forests, in shady and humid places, almost always near rivers.
Other common cats in the wetlands are the puma, smaller and more agile than the jaguar (weighing around 50 kilos), the ocelot, the wildcat, and the golden cat.
Deer are also common.
One of them is the large swamp deer, which lives in flooded areas with dense vegetation, near rivers and swamps, where it shares space with pampas deer and roe deer.
There are also capybaras, bush pigs, bats, giant otters, anteaters, monkeys and armadillos.
2. BIRDS
It is no exaggeration to say that the extensive floodplains are a paradise for birds.
Aves no Pantanal Matogrossense
Some 650 species have been recorded within its boundaries.
Throughout the year there is a continuous flow of species, intensified in the period from July to November, the breeding season for most birds.
It’s no coincidence that birdwatching attracts more and more visitors to the region.
The species most immediately associated with the Pantanal is the tuiuiú or jaburu, a large bird of the stork family that nests in the tallest trees.
The nests, the name given to the concentration of nests in the same place, are a trademark of the Pantanal landscape.
Between the large touiuiús and the chocas, the common name for small birds, there is a whole universe.
There are macaws, of various species – blue macaw, red macaw and canindé mac aw – as well as parakeets and other psittaciformes; there are hawks, also many and varied, such as the beautiful hawk, the caboclo hawk and the caramujeiro, which feeds on crustaceans and aquatic molluscs with its hook-shaped claw.
Also common are spoonbills, rheas and seriemas, herons, socós, biguás, biguatingas, anhumas and tachãs, whose loud, shrill calls have made them the guardians of the Pantanal.
3. FISH
Scale fish, leather fish, colourful fish, mimetic fish, shoal fish or solitary fish.
The Paraguayan basin is one of the richest in the world in terms of the number and diversity of aquatic species, attracting fishermen and scientists from all over the world.
One of the most common fish in the Pantanal rivers is the agile goldfish, which can weigh up to 18 kilos.
A rapids jumper, the dourado, as well as other fish species (curimbatá, piraputanga, lambaris, piaus and some catfish) swim against the current towards the springs to reproduce and spawn.
During this period, called piracema, fishing is forbidden; the volume of fish in the waterways is so great that there is a real jam.
As the water recedes, the fish make their way back, but many can’t get past the obstacles and get stuck in lakes and lagoons, where they become easy prey for birds, alligators and other predators.
The piranha, another typical fish of the Pantanal, lives mainly in deep water.
Although always considered a fearsome predator, it rarely attacks large animals unless they are injured; in fact, it mainly eats pieces of other fish’s fins – piranhas are mutilators – or dead animals.
The Pantanal stingray, which has a dangerous stinger in its tail, is rarely seen as it burrows deep in the muddy water.
Among the species that attract fishermen are the jaú, a giant leather fish that can weigh up to 100 kilos, and the pintado, which can grow to 1.5 metres long and weigh more than 25 kilos.
5. REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS
Sucuris, vipers and caimans are among the reptiles that live in the Pantanal – often making their presence known under the nests, waiting for their young to fall from the branch. Despite their menacing appearance, reptiles are not usually aggressive and will flee if threatened.
Among snakes, the most famous is the majestic anaconda, which can grow to 5 metres (16 feet) long and uses its muscular strength to wrap itself around its prey, killing it by constriction and suffocation: it then spends days digesting the food.
Targeted by the illegal fur trade, caimans were killed by the thousands until the 1970s, when environmental laws were tightened.
Today, free from the threat of extinction, the Pantanal’s alligators can be seen in the rivers (night expeditions are among the most popular programmes) or bred in captivity, authorised by Ibama.
The waters of the Pantanal are also home to forty species of frogs and toads.
Together, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects form a harmonious universe, unique in the world for its extraordinary and teeming beauty.
See the following publications about the Pantanal
- Observing mammals and reptiles in the Pantanal
- Fishing in the Pantanal – Best places, lures, methods and seasons
- Most common fish species in the Pantanal
- Birdwatching in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso
- Most common bird species in the Mato Grosso Pantanal
- Flora of the Mato Grosso Pantanal
- Fauna of the Mato Grosso Pantanal
- Pantanal of Mato Grosso – Geography, climate, soil and rivers
- History of the Mato Grosso Pantanal – Discovery and economic development
- Southern Pantanal Region
- Northern Pantanal Region
- Why visit the Pantanal in Mato Grosso?
