ENDANGERED: Fine Art & Photography Contest 2017 Submission.

A wild jaguar in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands by Mari Tada. All Rights Reserved.

In my field, I have been in many environments observing endangered species in their habitat, but to chance upon a jaguar drinking from a river was a rare moment made even more special by locking eyes with such an elusive cat. In Brazil's Pantanal wetlands, the dry season sees an increase of these threatened big cats as they stick close to rivers for water and prey. As more local people move away from agriculture or resource extraction and toward wildlife tourism economic development, jaguar poaching and human wildlife conflict have decreased.

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