The Jaguar That Hunts Caiman From Above
A two year old female jaguar named Medrosa (timid in Portuguese) has perfected the skill of jumping onto unsuspecting caimans hiding in the vegetation. It is fascinating to watch this from trees overhanging the river! At the end of this page is a video of her jumping.
First Encounter
We caught up with her one afternoon and watched her stalk caiman from the edge of the river, then move onto a tree trunk and look for them from above.
Medrosa was spotted in the thick vegetation along the river while looking for caiman
She would stare at something in the water that we could not visualize
Eventually she moved to one of her favorite trees
Looking down from this vantage point gave her a big advantage when hunting caiman
She got comfortable and patiently waited for a caiman to swim by
No caiman came by on our first encounter with her, and she gave us some great poses while she waited
Second Encounter
It was almost evening on our second encounter when we found her on a tree scanning for her dinner below. This time, instead of standing, she laid down on the tree trunk in the fading light.
The following series of photos as she surveyed for prey show how beautiful a jaguar she is.
Third Encounter
By the time we caught up with her on this encounter it was almost dark, and to get these action shots in the fading light Dr. P used the Canon R5 Mark II and R70-200 mm f/4 lens at 126 mm. The aperture was at f/4, the ISO at 10,000, yielding a shutter speed of 1/640th of a second (just barely enough to freeze her jump). It is a wonder the camera could focus in such low light.
Her intense gaze gave us an inclination that something was up
She concentrated on something coming near as she slowly raised her paw
Whatever it was swam right below her, and Dr. P was ready for her jump as evidenced by the following photos was she bolted off the tree
She missed the caiman this time
Video of Medrosa looking for a caiman
Video of Medrosa jumping