Jaguar tourism in Porto Jofre, a remote outpost in the Pantanal wetlands of western Brazil, has become so successful that researchers now say it needs new rules to survive.
Brazil’s Pantanal is home to the second-largest population of jaguars (Panthera onca) in the world (after the Brazilian Amazon). An estimated 4,000-6,000 of the big cats live in the region, many concentrated around the Porto Jofre area, where just a few decades ago jaguars were almost completely wiped out by poaching. Today, Porto Jofre hosts the world’s highest density of jaguars since the introduction of jaguar tourism.
However, a new study warns that this success has created risks. As jaguars become habituated to humans, with sightings nearly guaranteed, growing crowds on the river threaten to diminish the experience and ultimately destabilize a business that, so far, has protected the jaguars.
“When one is spotted, everyone rushes over, which creates a huge crowd and ruins the experience,” study co-author Rafael Chiaravalloti, a quantitative environmental anthropologist at University College London, told Mongabay by phone.
According to the Jaguar ID Project, the number of jaguars accustomed to human presence rose from 29 to 130 between 2013 and 2023. Jaguars usually shy away from humans, so the phenomenon is relatively new, and changes the way jaguar tourism operates. Tourists now routinely see multiple cats in a single day, and some tour companies offer refunds if no jaguar is spotted.
When jaguar sightings were rare, guides ensured viewings by sharing jaguar locations over open radio channels. However, mathematical modeling suggests that such open communication is no longer ideal now that the sighting probability is upward of 94% in the high season. With up to 30 boats on the water at once, guides would deliver better experiences by limiting information sharing and instead form smaller, more coordinated groups, the study says. This would likely also be better for the animals.
“From the moment the resources become more predictable, you need to have well-defined rules so the system doesn’t collapse,” Chiaravalloti said.
Jaguar tourism generates an estimated $6.8 million a year, helping drive the conservation turnaround in the region. The study authors say it’s become a key force for driving environmental protections in a biome besieged by drought and wildfires. At least 15% of the Pantanal burned in 2024.
Jaguars were previously seen as a threat to cattle and routinely hunted, often in revenge killings, but the new industry has helped transform local attitudes toward jaguars. Now, many ranchers have adopted other solutions to keep their cattle, particularly calves, safe, such as herding them into a protected area at night or using electric fencing.
“We have very few success stories like this,” Chiaravalloti said. “And we need to protect them so they keep working.”
Banner image: Jaguar siblings in Porto Jofre in the Brazilian Pantanal. Image by Bernard Dupont via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
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