{"id":55248,"date":"2025-08-08T19:49:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T19:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/55248\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T19:49:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T19:49:16","slug":"wild-jaguar-cub-spotted-in-argentinas-gran-chaco-for-first-time-in-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/55248\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild jaguar cub spotted in Argentina&#8217;s Gran Chaco for first time in decades"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A wild jaguar cub has been spotted in El Impenetrable National Park, part of the Gran Chaco region of northern Argentina \u2013 the first wild-born jaguar in the region for decades. <\/p>\n<p>The young cub was seen beside its mother Nal\u00e1, a female <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/facts-about-jaguars\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">jaguar<\/a> born in captivity and released by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rewildingargentina.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rewilding Argentina<\/a> in August 2024 to help save the species from local extinction in the Argentine Chaco.<\/p>\n<p>The sighting, made by local nature guides Dar\u00edo Soraire and Pablo Luna, took place along the Bermejo River on 30 July 2025. Photos suggest the cub is around five months old.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I had incredible luck,&#8221; says Dario Soraire, describing the moment he and fellow nature guide Pablo Luna saw Nal\u00e1 and her cub. Credit: Rewilding Argentina<\/p>\n<p>Jaguars in El Impenetrable<\/p>\n<p>The jaguar is the largest predator in South America and once roamed widely across northern Argentina. Today, the population is highly fragmented. Experts estimate there are only 200\u2013250 individuals left in the wild in Argentina, and the species has lost more than 95% of its original range.<\/p>\n<p>Efforts to bring jaguars back to El Impenetrable began in 2019, when a lone male named Qaramta was discovered and monitored. With no females left in the region since the 1990s, rewilding teams introduced captive-born females from the Jaguar Reintroduction Centre in Iber\u00e1 Park. Nal\u00e1 is one of four released so far.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWild jaguars are holding out in isolated pockets of Northern Argentina, but they need genetic diversity and connectivity to thrive,&#8221; explains Sebasti\u00e1n Di Martino, conservation director of Rewilding Argentina.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Creating a breeding population not only brings us one step closer to the jaguar\u2019s recovery, it offers the blueprint to extending their comeback throughout the Gran Chaco.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In pictures: finding Nal\u00e1 and her cub<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1438\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Parque-Nacional-El-Impenetrable-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Parque Nacional El Impenetrable\" class=\"wp-image-137567\"\/>El Impenetrable National Park lies in the Gran Chaco region of northern Argentina. Credit: Matias Rebak | Rewilding Argentina<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Parque-Nacional-El-Impenetrable-1.jpeg\" alt=\"Parque Nacional El Impenetrable\" class=\"wp-image-137568\"\/>The Gran Chaco supports the second-largest continuous forest in South America after the Amazon. Credit: Rewilding Argentina<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nala-and-cub-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Nala and cub\" class=\"wp-image-137571\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\"\/>Nal\u00e1, spotted on the banks of the Bermejo River. Credit: Pablo Luna | Rewilding Argentina<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nala-and-cub-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Nala and cub\" class=\"wp-image-137572\"\/>The moment nature guides saw Nal\u00e1&#8217;s cub for the first time. Credit: Pablo Luna | Rewilding Argentina<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nala-and-cub-on-riverbank-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Nala and cub on riverbank\" class=\"wp-image-137573\"\/>The team believe the cub is about five months old. Credit: Pablo Luna | Rewilding Argentina<br \/>\nSee Nal\u00e1&#8217;s full story. Credit: Rewilding Argentina<\/p>\n<p>The Gran Chaco, shared by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, is South America\u2019s second-largest forest ecosystem after the Amazon. It remains little-known and under-protected, despite its immense biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside jaguars, Rewilding Argentina has reintroduce a number of other &#8216;lost&#8217; species to the area, including marsh deer and red-footed turtles.<\/p>\n<p>Top image: Nal\u00e1&#8217; and cub. Credit: Pablo Luna | Rewilding Argentina<\/p>\n<p>More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wild jaguar cub has been spotted in El Impenetrable National Park, part of the Gran Chaco region&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-55248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}