Original subtitles

"This time, on Jaguar Journals..."

(JAGUAR ROARING)

(WHISPERS) There it is! Woah!

"..it's the females

getting hot under the collar."

(SNARLS)

"There's a baby boom in the Pantanal..."

That's incredible!

"..and a dramatic storm

forces the jaguars

and us, to run for cover."

I think it's just a little bit rainy!

Oh!

"I'm Lizzie Daly. I'm a biologist and conservationist

and I tag and track wild animals.

I'm here in the Brazilian Pantanal...

..with a crew of filmmakers

to try and understand

one of the world's most elusive big cats."

I'm joining a team of scientists on a ground-breaking

jaguar-research project like nowhere else.

"Over five weeks, I'll be following the most

iconic jaguars and their families,

Fera, the Queen of the Pantanal,

Ferinha, the free spirit,

Badalo, the contender,

Surya, the supermum,

and Aroeira, the new girl.

These big cats are now so used to scientists

that they share their most private moments

and let us in on the secret world

of wild jaguars."

(BIRDS CAWING)

So we're at the beginning of week two.

There's a really excited feeling in the car today.

Rich has got all his kit ready to go,

Lili's joining us today,

and Wendell is leading the way.

It's gonna be really special.

And a big, big day today.

She forgot me!

Oh, Mark! Sorry.

Gutted, mate. Gutted. Oh, sorry.

You're only running the show.

(ALL LAUGHING)

"Last week, I got to know Badalo.

And witnessed the fierce rivalry in the race to become

the dominant male."

(GROWLS)

"Now, I'm focusing on the females and their cubs.

Cub-hood is already the most vulnerable time of a jaguar's life.

And the extra males hanging around

make it a particularly dangerous time

to be a cub in Caiman Reserve.

Surviving this life stage relies on having an expert mum.

So I'm heading in search of a seasoned jaguar mother

to see if she has any signature techniques to share."

The sun is just rising,

and we are on our way into the field

to meet one of the most iconic jaguars here, Fera.

She is the Queen of the Pantanal.

"Nine-year-old Fera has succeeded

despite huge challenges,

and now, she's a major player

here in the reserve.

To find her, we need to look

up into the treetops."

(TRACKER BLIPS)

She's very close to here.

How often do you spot Fera, Lili?

LILI: Um, super often.

Yeah? She's extremely habituated.

OK.

(BLIPPING)

Ah, there she is! There she is! There she is!

(WHISPERING) Oh, my gosh! Yeah, she's in the tree.

She's in the tree.

"Queen Fera looks at home on her throne.

She's only 54 kilograms,

small by jaguar standards,

so she has her pick of the treetops

in her expansive territory.

But she had a tough start in life.

She lost her mum when she was only a baby."

LILI: Fera become orphan back in 2014.

Her and her sister ended up in a rescue centre.

"Lili and her team rehabilitated the sisters

before releasing them.

They were the first ever captive jaguars

successfully rewilded into nature.

They not only survived, but thrived

and went on to have nine cubs between them."

LILI: They lost their mum with only four month old.

They didn't have the necessary lessons, you know?

And now, they are just the best hunters,

the best mothers.

"The fact Fera has survived at all

shows she has grit.

But if she's in the tree,

where is her cub?"

(WHISPERING) Woah! The cub's in the tree!

(MAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY ON RADIO)

The cub is in the tree! They're in the tree.

"I didn't spot five-month-old Samba at first,

but he was snuggled up behind her the whole time.

When there are dangerous adult males roaming the floor,

teaching him to climb trees could save his life."

Why do you think Fera likes to climb trees?

It's a very familiar place to be at and very safe as well.

It's part of their territory.

So Fera sees her territory as the ground

but also expand to trees. Mm-hm.

She will rub the-the cheeks

and the chins and the claws

in the trees and she leave her scents.

She looks like a monkey. Yeah.

It's so funny. Sometimes you have the signal,

and you're like, "Where? Where? Where? Ah!"

LIZZIE: "The tree tops are Fera's safe haven.

And at this time of year, there are extra benefits."

It is extremely hot out here.

We are all very sweaty.

Wonder if up in the tree, it could be cooler?

Yeah it's fresher, yeah. It's fresher.

"She's a smart cat.

But experience tells her

that a five-month-old cub

won't stay still for long.

Fera needs to protect her cub,

but she also needs to teach him jaguar life skills

over the next year.

She's his only teacher...

..who doubles as target for ambush practice."

LILI: He's actually improving

the skills, you know? He's using the-the paws,

he's using the balance.

"It's amazing to watch one of the world's first rewilded jaguars

be so patient with her own wild-born cub."

(SAMBA SNARLS)

Bit, uh, boisterous.

He's very restless.

Almost like somebody that I know.

(BOTH LAUGH) Me and him have a lot in common.

"Oncafari Jaguar Project has recorded 15 different cubs so far this year.

The most at any one time since the study started."

Why is this year a bit of a bumper year for cubs?

They have all the kind of resources in here, you know?

There's space, enough space for everybody,

enough food for everybody, enough water.

Which means that the population is healthy

and very sexually active, and having cubs.

So, this is a refuge, you know.

It's...

..plenty of everything in here.

"The only fences here

are for livestock.

So the wild jaguars move freely, but they choose to stay.

Fera's success is testament

to how special this protected reserve is.

But whilst Fera is an expert mum,

she's only raising one cub.

Another mum I've already met has two,

double the trouble

and double the work.

I first met Surya and her cubs out in the open."

(WHISPERING) Oh, that is incredible!

"But the last time I saw her, she was all alone,

fighting to get access to food."

(SNARLING)

"Happily, Oncafari biologist, Pedro Reali,

has found Surya and her cubs together again."

(WHISPERING) We have found Surya and the two cubs.

(LAUGHING) But I'm really just following wobbly grass right now.

"These cubs are just three months old.

By the time they're fully grown,

brother Chinella could be a third larger than his sister.

But at this age, boys and girls look quite similar."

How would I tell these apart?

PEDRO:

PEDRO:

LIZZIE: OK. (BOTH LAUGH)

LIZZIE: Top tips off Pedro.

(CONTINUES LAUGHING)

"Back to the forehead pattern,

each dot is called a rosette.

Easier to spot in tall grass

and helps ID uncollared jaguars.

Sister Juba, has a distinct upside-down triangle.

Brother Chinella's, is less symmetrical."

Each jaguar has a unique set

of rosette patterns,

a bit like a human fingerprint,

and that is unique to that individual.

"For Mum Surya,

it's time for yet another shift

of feeding her demanding duo.

The team know from watching these cubs

that they still only drink milk.

Their next milestone will be to eat solid food.

It will take some persuading.

Feeding from Mum is too easy.

But for once, usually timid Juba, the female,

has mischief on the mind."

PEDRO: They're discovering everything.

LIZZIE: It must be an adventure for them.

Oh no!

This young cub here has just been stung by something.

Poor thing.

They'll be maybe a bit more careful

when it comes to looking at wasp nests or bee nests.

"Juba just learned a harsh lesson,

but an important one.

This environment is packed full of dangers to a young cub.

At least with Mum Surya on their side,

they stand the best possible chance."

It is so hot today.

So humid, so muggy.

We really need a storm to break.

"The four-month-long rainy season should have already started.

But for the past few years, the weather has been erratic,

almost completely dry.

And it looks like this year could be heading that way again.

Just like us,

the jaguars seem to be feeling the heat."

So we've just heard of an uncollared male

just resting under here in the shade

and, uh, the team are already on it.

His name is Acerola and he's one of the young males

who may be giving Badalo a run for his money.

But...

..this is, you know, absolute luck

that we've just stumbled across him here.

"Acerola is a very visual reminder

of why the jaguar mums have to stay vigilant."

Massive male jaguar

in... in a road tube.

All the jaguars have a typical W shape,

bit like a butterfly,

but his is extra special to be part of that.

"Instead of on his sleeve,

Acerola wears his heart on his forehead.

But as gorgeous as he is,

his presence is bad news for the mums of this area.

Female territories are fairly static,

even more so with young cubs in tow.

The cubs are sitting ducks

unless their mums can get males like Acerola onside."

He was born here, in the area.

He's a little bit more than two years old.

And he's actually related to Badalo,

the collared male, they are a very similar age.

"Acerola and Badalo are both direct descendants

of the founding mother of the project,

Esperanca.

So the males battling for territory

are in a family feud."

PEDRO: Now, Acerola and Badalo are probably taking advantage

of this gap of the dominant male. Yeah, OK, OK.

And they are in this competition together.

"Acerola looks easily as big as his cousin Badalo,

well over a hundred kilograms."

There's quite a distinct scar on the...

..tip of the left eye of Acerola. So what would that be from?

This is a quite new one.

We don't know what caused it.

So, as a young male

trying to become dominant,

he might fight with other males.

And even the mating process with the females

can be quite aggressive.

"All that aggression is why cubs aren't safe around males.

But at least for now, in this oppressive heat,

it doesn't look like Acerola will be bothering any baby jaguars.

These concrete road tubes were installed

to help flood waters flow during the wet season

and keep the roads passable.

Their dual function as a jaguar fridge

is a happy side effect."

PEDRO: If we measure,

temperature gets to be three to four degrees cooler...

In there? ..inside those tubes, yeah.

Because of the material? Yes, yes.

As a surprise, jaguars end up loving this place

as a resting place. Really?

"We're supposed to leave at week's end,

before the flooding.

But nobody knows if these road tubes will even be needed this year."

(FLAMES ROAR)

"The past two years saw extreme droughts

and wildfires.

Fires burned across 40,000 square kilometres of the Pantanal,

affecting almost half the jaguars that live here

and decimating key habitat.

But counterintuitively,

following the traumatic event,

there were huge numbers of cubs born."

PEDRO: After the bush fires,

we saw a baby boom.

We were wondering if the stress of the bushfires

was causing the females to become more fertile somehow,

increasing the number of babies.

"It's still just a theory,

but it could be an evolutionary strategy

to try and make sure the species survives

when the environment is in crisis.

The more immediate concern is for the mums

that have had their babies in the middle of a dominance battle.

But they have their own savvy techniques

to manage the males.

Queen Fera's GPS has pinged

far beyond her usual territory in the north.

I want to find out what she's up to."

Hold on, everyone, because it's really bumpy here.

So this is all a bit relentless,

the... the heat, the terrain,

and it is roasting out here. It must be...

..40-plus degrees right now.

There's very little wind.

"When we spot her..."

PEDRO: You see? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

"..Fera's got the right idea."

So she's just gone straight for the pond.

She has obviously

been very hot walking along here.

So, it'll take her a while to cool down.

But, uh, this must be what she was after.

"She's not a big jaguar,

but she's nowhere near submerged.

It's more of a puddle than a bath.

But beggars can't be choosers in this heat."

PEDRO: It should be much more filled with water

because it's the beginning of rainy season.

LIZZIE: Mm-hm. But it's getting drier and drier.

She's licking the water.

That's the laziest drinking I've ever seen.

Look, she's catching the flies and mosquitoes around her in her mouth.

I'm sure they're very irritating, especially when it gets really hot.

"There's no sign of her cub Samba,

but the team aren't worried.

Fera has more than proven herself as a mother

and she's about to let us know why she's by herself."

(FERA GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING CONTINUES)

We just heard Fera grunt.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

Maybe she smells the presence of a male around,

and she's calling out, could be that.

"Fera's too small to fight off an adult male,

but she needs to protect her cub.

She has to use brains, not brawn."

(FERA GRUNTING)

"The grunting sounds she's making

are an invitation to mate.

That will attract the male to her

and away from Samba, her cub."

So that call,

another male, if he was in the area,

would hear, and go straight to her. PEDRO: Yes, yes, definitely.

"We're so far north

that whoever Fera is calling,

could be yet another contender

for the dominant male title in this busy area."

(FERA GRUNTING)

In these kind of places, like borders with neighbour farms,

new individuals could come. Mm-hm.

And there's always the possibility of new males.

(WHISPERS) Just be quiet, everyone. PEDRO: Super quiet, yeah.

"For now, Fera seems to have everything under control."

That's Fera, Queen...

Queen of the Pantanal.

(CHUCKLES)

"I feel like I've seen the perfect display

of a brilliant jaguar mother.

Unfortunately,

supermum skills don't always run in the family.

Four-year-old Ferinha

is Queen Fera's daughter.

But unlike her mum,

she has a reputation as a free spirit.

The team think Ferinha might have just had a new cub.

So I want to find her

and see if we can confirm that it exists."

(BLIPPING)

Yeah, somewhere in here, in front of us.

So that beeping you can hear

is the VHF collar of Ferinha.

And it's nice and loud and very, very clear.

So we know that she's probably less than 30 metres from us.

So really, really close.

"Just because we know where she is,

doesn't mean we can get there."

This is as far as we can get.

We know that Ferinha is not far from here,

but there's not really much else we can do, so...

..now we're just gonna sit and wait.

And eat flapjacks.

I didn't want to rustle while you were talking.

"It's not for nothing

that camera operator Richard's nickname within the crew..."

Richard and his flappies.

"..is Snackerundi.

After several hours,

we haven't moved

and neither has Ferinha.

The team want to confirm if Ferinha's recently had a cub

because she has a shaky track record as a mum.

Last time she had cubs,

one didn't survive,

and the other really shouldn't have.

Little Leventina was abandoned by Ferinha

when she was eight months old

and only lived thanks to her dogged determination.

But maybe Ferinha can change her ways.

A new cub could be her chance to prove herself."

RICHARD: I think there's an animal in there.

Oh no, it's not, sorry. (LAUGHTER)

"Ferinha's usually comfortable being seen.

So her new love of hide-and-seek is frustrating.

But it could be a good sign that she's protecting a cub.

Time to cut our losses.

As we do,

Ferinha proves she's still unpredictable."

Ferinha. LILI: Ferinha, Ferinha.

LIZZIE: That's Ferinha?!

(WHISPERING) Oh, yeah! There she is! There she is! There she is!

LILI:

(LIZZIE GASPS, SHUSHES)

LIZZIE: (WHISPERS) Mario said she has a cub,

but I haven't seen it yet.

Woah!

LILI:

Did you see it? Did you see it?

Fantastic!

We spent a number of hours basically trying to spot Ferinha

and by absolute chance, she was out walking across.

That is fantastic, guys.

It's crazy. I'm-I'm still...

..shaking? ..digesting.

Really, having that kind of encounter is so, so special.

So, it just goes to show what this place is like.

It's overflowing with jaguars.

"I didn't see the cub myself, nor did we catch it on camera,

but the whole team is rooting for Ferinha.

Seeing a cub this young

is incredibly rare.

How are you feeling, Mario?

Good. Very nice.

LIZZIE: You excited to celebrate?

Tell everyone else you've seen the first cub?

Yes. And drink a beer!

(ALL LAUGHING)

Extra celebrations. Yeah. LILI: Great way to celebrate.

"Since I didn't see the cub with my own eyes,

I want to set up a movement-triggered camera trap

in case they come this way again."

MARIO: (IN DISTANCE) Lili! Lili. LILI: Mario Nelson found something.

(BOTH SPEAKING PORTUGUESE)

(LILI EXCLAIMS) LIZZIE: Wow.

Wow, it's a tiny, tiny footprint. Nice!

So this here?

Yeah. Tiny cub print?

(LILI SPEAKS PORTUGUESE)

That's epic. OK, let's clear some bits.

This is really important in clearing the area

because what'll happen is the leaves will blow,

the trees will constantly bounce,

um, if it rains, etcetera,

so that movement is gonna trigger the camera trap.

Um, and that's what we need to avoid.

We really only want the jaguar and her cubs.

There's so many questions that can be answered using these camera traps.

What it's like in the first moments of life for a cub

is also something that I... pff.

I mean, it's rarely seen

with such an iconic species like a jaguar.

LILI: Pretend that you are a jaguar, Lizzie.

(LIZZIE LAUGHS) Really, I'm not joking.

You need to walk like this.

Like the size of a jaguar. Like this.

'Cause that's the only way that you're gonna know

that it's working. Come on then, Lili.

I'm a really slow jaguar.

"I think my impression is convincing.

But this guy looks sceptical."

So, exciting, that's the two camera traps set.

We'll let the environment settle,

to let our kind of scents kind of disappear.

And hopefully, she'll feel comfortable enough

to move through here. Exciting.

Whoo!

"The next day,

we're heading back out into the reserve.

Via my second favourite Pantanal residents,

the biggest rodents in the world."

Here we go.

Morning, capybaras.

Every day, we pass the capybaras

and I love them!

Look at them,

having their morning bath!

Hello, ladies!

They are...

..incredible, capybaras.

To us, peaceful rodents.

To jaguar...

..snack. (LAUGHS)

"Capybara are so delicious,

they make up 15% of the jaguars' diet

here at Oncafari,

second only to caiman.

But figuring out what's good to eat

and what's worth the trouble

takes some trial and error.

One of Surya's cubs,

three-month-old Chinella,

has dinner in his sights.

This stalking behaviour is a good sign

that his development is on track.

But his target is ambitious.

These flightless birds, rheas,

can run over 60 kilometres per hour,

and weigh around 30 kilos.

That's several times heavier than Chinella.

His sister, Juba,

seems to think a stick

is the better choice for him.

Back on the road..."

MARK:

(LIZZIE GASPS)

So we got the drone up, getting some landscapes,

and literally,

there's a jaguar on the side of the road.

Who is this male?

His name is Carai.

He has all of the scars on his face.

We think he's pretty experienced.

He's huge.

And he's probably trying to make his way

to be the most dominant.

"I've heard about Carai

as one of the rivals

in the battle to become the boss.

His scent mark messages

are peppered around this reserve.

It's amazing to see him in the flesh.

He looks even bigger than Badalo's 100 kilos."

How big do you think he is?

He would be 110-20,

130, maybe. Ooh.

BEA: We can see, like, his back is full of muscles as well.

His head is huge.

"Carai is uncollared

So, whilst the team see him occasionally,

he's still an enigma."

We want to know him.

We want to know what he's doing and what he's after.

"I can imagine that his rivals and the jaguar mums feel the same."

"A few days have passed since we set the camera traps

to try and get a glimpse of Ferinha's new cub.

So, we're heading back out to collect them."

Here we go.

Let's get these camera traps.

Ah, there you go, Richard.

It's just on that tree.

Great, I'll take that.

Oh, I'm so excited.

Yeah, I'm quite optimistic.

Great, super.

OK.

Moment of truth! RICHARD: Here we go.

No. OK. Doesn't look like there's anything

on that one, does it? Nothing, no.

It's not looking good, is it?

"Let's hope camera trap two

has more than just leaves blowing in the wind."

There's something on there.

I didn't see, let's have..

Oh!

(WHISPERING) I don't know if it's a cub.

Click on it.

Oh, it's an agouti! (LAUGHING) No!

It's an agouti.

(BOTH CHUCKLING)

It's an agouti, Richard!

Oh, God. I literally thought it's a tiny furry cub.

Oh, my gosh, my heart was racing,

but it was an agouti.

RICHARD: A caiman! LIZZIE: Nice!

What?! RICHARD: That's really cool.

LIZZIE: That's very cool!

Just going for a stroll under the bridge.

RICHARD: That's good.

Nice. OK, a caiman.

OK, so we know there's prey around here for Ferinha.

BOTH: Tapir!

I can't believe how many animals... Wow!

..come through this spot.

It's like a little wildlife corridor, isn't it?

What's that?

Oh. Oh, that's Ferinha.

RICHARD: That's Ferinha.

LIZZIE: Can you hear any vocalizations?

"If Ferinha was vocalizing,

it could suggest her cub was nearby.

But...

..nothing."

I'm gutted.

Genuinely gutted.

"I'm worried that history has repeated itself.

There's no sign of Ferinha's cub.

And we can't intervene.

It's a golden rule when studying wildlife.

Science coordinator Edu

and the rest of the team follow it religiously."

That's what the habituation process is.

So we try to get close to the animals

without disturbing

or without interfering in their natural behaviours.

Mm-hm. And we need to respect this.

"All we can do is cross our fingers and hope for a sighting.

Time to head back."

(WHISPERING) Stop here. Stop, stop, stop!

Who is that?

He must be...

..ten metres away walking right for us.

Wow.

Look at that stride.

EDU: He's very confident. LIZZIE: Very confident.

"I recognize him.

This massive uncollared male,

is Acerola."

(WHISPERS) OK. He's gonna walk right past us.

We'll stay quiet.

Oh, my gosh. This is crazy.

EDU: Woah. Look at that.

LIZZIE: Wow. Edu.

EDU: He's a very massive guy.

LIZZIE: Edu, this is unbelievable.

That was very close.

He was like, there...

So, so confident. Oh, my God.

I just looked at how many mosquitoes are around you, Edu.

God. That is...

I think it's worth it to be eaten. We're like human swamps right now.

We're on the... We're on the menu.

MARK: He stopped and looked at you.

That was unbelievable.

I don't think I'll ever have a spine-tingling moment

like that ever again. (CHUCKLES)

Crazy, crazy moment.

"Talk about an adrenaline rush.

Acerola seemed so confident,

even more than his rivals.

If he met Ferinha's little cub,

it could be game over."

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

"The next morning, I want to try and track down Ferinha again.

But the sky has other plans."

(RAIN POURING)

We are hiding

under here because the rains have started.

But it's been so hot

for the past few days, hey? LILI: Uh-huh.

So, this is... This is due. No, it's a- it's a great rain.

The animals need it.

Whew!

RICHARD: Let's just um...

..yeah. (LIZZIE LAUGHS)

Let's just hold out a bit then, shall we?

LIZZIE: Let's see if this passes over?

(THUNDER CRASHES)

"It feels to me like it's doing the opposite.

Across site,

with guide and scientist, Diogo Lucatelli,

the other crew make it back to the garages in the nick of time."

DIOGO: That's amazing.

The Pantanal is a huge wetland.

It is the flooding

that is the basis for a very healthy and abundant environment.

And this hasn't been happening

as often as it should

for the last 15 years.

And you have wildfire...

(CRACKING) Oh!

Stay here, girls.

"At the main camp, suddenly,

I'm worried."

LIZZIE: (MUFFLED BY RAIN AND WIND)

LILI: It's the roof? LIZZIE: It's the roof tiles! Yeah.

"The wind dies down quickly,

but the rain isn't letting up."

I mean, talk about against the elements.

We were in, like, what felt like 44-degree heat.

And it's that unpredictability,

which is what they and climate scientists are worried about.

Catching us, catching the environment

and catching the wildlife off guard.

This is flooding

and it's, what, been 20 minutes of rain?

So who knows what it's gonna be like out there?

"Once the storm passes,

Lili's anxious to check out the damage."

LILI: Hey, look, look, look, look.

ALL: Oh! LIZZIE: That's really bad.

Oh, jeez.

Oh, Lili, I'm sorry.

Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Oh my God.

The whole tree is down.

LIZZIE: Everyone was out, right? LILI: Yes, everybody was out.

RICHARD: The strength

to pull out all those roots from the ground.

"It's one of the most extreme storms

they've ever had."

The storm that we just saw doesn't happen here that often.

Sure, they get rains.

And in the rainy season, they get a lot of water.

But that level of wind and severity

just doesn't happen round here.

So I think the whole team here are quite surprised

to see this amount of damage.

"Out in the reserve, there are more fallen trees."

It leaves you to question

whether this is a sign

of what weather is gonna be like here in the Pantanal.

We just don't know.

That's not good.

LILI: Oh, man, it's stuck. We can't pass.

I think it's going to be like this during the whole way.

"The extent of the damage is shocking."

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Oh, no, genuinely. We would have been in real trouble.

I think it would have been quite serious,

'cause we would have to find somewhere for cover,

I mean, there's your kit obviously, but actually like...

For us, you know, as human beings, with all the trees coming down.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, no. Yeah, it would've been...

Under cover would have been unsafe,

out in the open would have been unsafe.

They need to pass through this place, guys.

We need to clear the area.

Yeah. That's fine.

That might be the end of our journey.

LILI: Yeah, we have to go back, dude. Sorry.

"There's nothing else we can do today

except help with the cleanup effort.

The seasons are no longer predictable events following a pattern.

The increased danger of wildfires and storms

makes me worry about what lies ahead

for the jaguars and their young cubs."

"It's our last day before we head home for a few months.

After the storm,

the team checked the collared cats' GPS points

for any distress signals.

Thankfully, all seems fine."

OK.

"So we're back on the trail of Ferinha

and the mystery of her missing cub.

We follow her signal to a group of ponds

the team refer to as 'the jaguar spa.'"

(TRACKER BLIPPING)

So that's the... sound of Ferinha's collar.

OK. She can't be far. Ferinha's signal's really strong.

PEDRO: Ah, there! There they are!

Where?

(GASPS) Wow, there she is!

OK. Wow.

"There's Ferinha.

But there's still no cub.

This is not her usual area,

and she's got company.

I recognize that huge face

and those scars.

Carai."

We've seen Carai before.

He's a big, uncollared male.

Potentially could be a dominant male here in the Pantanal.

"Carai is a strong contender

in the battle with Badalo and Acerola.

He and Ferinha look intimately acquainted.

I hope her cub is safely hidden.

But there's a chance Carai has found it already."

(WHISPERING) Oh, wow. You can see the size difference.

Oh, wow!

"Ferinha doesn't look like a mother who's just lost her cub."

(WHISPERING) She's sat right in front of him.

"This is a jaguar flirting 101." (JAGUARS GRUNTING)

She's now walking off into the bush and he's up.

So we're probably about

to hear a very big vocalization.

And they're probably just about to mate.

"Elsewhere, wild jaguars are rarely seen mating out in the open.

Here at Oncafari,

cats like Ferinha are so habituated,

they've let the scientists study their most intimate moments."

They usually mate every 20 minutes. Mm-hm.

We see this pattern.

And they do this from 3 to 5 days. (DISTANT ROAR)

Mating! That was mating! Yes!

Yeah, could you hear? LIZZIE: Yes!

PEDRO: Yeah. That was a mate. (ENGINE STARTS)

LIZZIE: We're heading round to the other side of this pond.

to see if we can get a bit closer.

(DISTANT ROAR)

(WHISPERING) There it is. Woah!

That was so loud!

"When we catch up with them,

they both look...

..relaxed.

There's a chance we've underestimated Queen Fera's daughter."

(WHISPERING) Ferinha is just lying down with Carai

right in front of us.

"Mating might actually be a tactic to distract Carai

and keep him away from the cub."

What we may be looking at is tactical mating,

also something called pseudo oestrus.

This is where the females mate with multiple males

to confuse those males as to whether their cubs

are theirs or not.

And it's seen in a number of big cat species,

pumas, leopards, lions,

and jaguars.

But to see it up close is something else.

"Apart from Ferinha's own questionable track record,

in general, the cubs at Oncafari have unusually high survival rates."

The infanticide levels here are really, really low.

And there is a direct link, you know, potentially,

with the huge amount of mating that you see here.

"New jaguar mums can't get pregnant

but will still mate with the males,

who are then less likely to kill their cubs.

But even if it is a tactic,

Ferinha seems to like mating a lot."

PEDRO: All the males that come around,

she ends up mating with them.

We've seen her mating with five males in a row.

As usually, people just see mating as a way to reproduce.

There are other reasons, could be even for pleasure.

We don't know. It's very hard to tell.

But this is something that should not be excluded

from our hypothesis.

"Right on cue, after 20 minutes,

it's business time."

Ferinha is rolling on her back.

It's almost displaying she's ready.

See, she's now heading over to the male

to invite him to mate with her.

Bit of flirting.

"I feel like we should be giving them some privacy,

but these two seem to be a pair of exhibitionist jaguars."

(WHISPERING) We might actually see them mating

for the first time.

Here we go, here we go.

Oh my gosh!

(ROARS)

(GROWLS)

PEDRO: Did you see him bite

the neck of the female? Yeah!

That's what triggers the female ovulation.

It's a quite aggressive mating process sometimes.

He has some scars as well, right? PEDRO: Yeah, he does.

So they can fight.

That's how males collect wounds as well.

That's a first for me, Pedro.

I've never seen that. It's very special, yeah.

To spend so much time with these big cats is incredible.

But to see them mating like that is...

Ah, I have no words,

is really, really, really exciting.

"I'm still worried about Ferinha's cub.

There's not much we can do

but cross our fingers that it's somewhere safe."

"It's almost time to leave the Pantanal,

but before I do,

I want to check up on how our youngest family is doing,

after the storm.

Surya is the only mum I've met here that's raising two cubs

at the same time."

Well, there she is, looking around.

Look, look, look , look , look !

The cubs!

Here comes the other, here comes the other!

"After the uncertainty of Ferinha,

I'm happy to see both cubs present and accounted for.

But Surya's dinner brings up an important issue

for the Oncafari team.

The jaguars here do hunt

a substantial amount of wild prey,

but those smaller animals are often eaten in one sitting.

A larger cow carcass lasts for longer,

so we see them more often."

Obviously we're on a carcass of a cow, which is cattle.

What happens now?

Because you work so hard to mend that relationship

between your ranchers and your cowboys here.

BEA: Yes. Definitely.

This is a sensitive matter as well.

This is also part of our work

to try to understand what are the reasons

the jaguar go for cows. Mm.

They are not that responsible

for the cattle kill. Mm-hm.

We see it here that the animals do die from natural causes.

"So Surya may not have killed this cow at all.

But scavenging the carcass means she can eat enough

to give her cubs full bellies of milk.

And it's a teaching moment for Chinella and Juba."

And they're at an age where they should start

to be learning about prey.

And that's exactly what they're doing

by being near the carcass,

you know, understanding the smells, sights with Mum.

This is all part of the learning. This is all really great.

And showing that she's being a really great mum,

really, really successful jaguar.

(GASPS) Are they eating it?

Oh, they are!

Until now,

they have only been on the milk.

And now they're starting to investigate more.

And one of them headed in.

And then the other one got the confidence to do the same,

eat meat for the first time!

"These little ones still have their milk teeth.

There's a way to go before they'll be ripping meat off bones.

But I feel privileged to witness

such an important moment in a cub's life...

..and to see a jaguar supermum acing her job."

Bea, is this the first time for you also?

BEA: Yes.

And this is the moment that they start to eat meat.

I am just... I'm speechless.

This is jaguar utopia.

These two young cubs have been really great to watch

over the past few weeks since we've been here.

We've seen their personalities.

We've seen, you know, the differences between Chinella and Juba,

how they socialize, how they play.

One's more bold than the other.

And when we come back,

this landscape will have changed dramatically.

It'll be the rainy season

and it'll be their first time in the rainy season.

So, just leaves me to wonder how they'll cope.

And I'm really curious to see what they're like when we come back.

I think it will be a really big transformation

for two wonderful little cubs.

"It's time for us to go.

We'll return after the worst of the wet season.

Although, I've witnessed first-hand

how unpredictable the weather is now in the Pantanal.

While I'm away, I'll be finalizing

some new tech that could help us understand Badalo, the enigma,

in a whole new light.

Revealing his secret movements

and where he lies in the dominant battle rankings."

And we'll be meeting up again

with a scientist here to collar some new jaguars,

which will be a great opportunity

to learn more about these fascinating big cats.

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