A Guatemalan wildlife photographer and guide in the Pantanal of Brazil captured rare video of \u201can intense standoff\u201d the likes of which he\u2019d never seen before.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoments like this are rare,\u201d Andres Novales wrote on his Instagram post. \u201cRaw, unpredictable, and unforgettable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pantanal is the largest tropical wetland in the world at more than 42 million acres with most located in Brazil but with portions in Bolivia and Paraguay.<\/p>\n
Novales leads tours<\/a> in the Pantanal, and during a recent excursion in the Caxiri Channel he filmed an extraordinary standoff between a jaguar and giant otters that lasted three hours.<\/p>\n Novales showed a shortened version in a video clip on his Instagram page<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEarly this morning, while cruising up the Caxiri Channel, we came across a jaguar right outside a giant otter den,\u201d Novales explained. \u201cWhat followed was pure chaos.<\/p>\n \u201cFor over an hour, the otters defended their home with everything they had. Again and again, they charged at the jaguar, forcing it to retreat against the bank. Every time the cat looked for an opening, the otters pushed back fearlessly. At one point, while the jaguar was distracted, they managed to slip into their den and hold their ground from inside.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fight didn\u2019t stop there. The jaguar tried digging from above, determined to get in. The tension lasted nearly three hours until, finally, the jaguar gave up and walked away.\u201d<\/p>\n As Novales wrote, it was an unforgettable encounter.<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on For The Win: Jaguar rejected by river otters in the Pantanal of Brazil<\/a><\/p>\n