The Atlantic Forest of Brazil once teemed with life. Stretching along the country’s coastline from Rio Grande do Norte to Rio Grande do Sul, this lush biome was home to an astonishing diversity of plants and animals, including its apex predator: the jaguar (Panthera onca). Today, after centuries of deforestation, urbanization, and agricultural expansion, the Atlantic Forest is a shadow of its former self—a fragmented landscape where jaguars have been pushed to the brink of local extinction.
But across this threatened biome, a quiet revolution is underway. Scientists, Indigenous communities, and conservationists are working together on ambitious rewilding projects designed to bring the jaguar back. From the Iguaçu National Park on the Argentine border to the Aguaí Reserve in Santa Catarina, these efforts are proving that even a critically endangered population can recover when given the right conditions.
This is the story of how Brazil is fighting to restore its apex predator and why the jaguar’s return is essential for the health of the entire Atlantic Forest.
A Critically Endangered Icon
The jaguar once roamed across a vast swath of the Americas, from the southwestern United States to northern Argentina. Today, the species has disappeared from approximately 47% of its historic range in South America . Brazil remains the jaguar’s stronghold, home to roughly half of the world’s population, with most concentrated in the Amazon Rainforest and Pantanal wetlands .
But the Atlantic Forest tells a different story.
Here, jaguar populations have plummeted to just a few hundred individuals, earning them a “critically endangered” classification . The numbers are stark: in the Iguaçu-Iguazú Green Corridor that straddles the Brazil-Argentina border, the population dropped from an estimated 400-800 individuals between 1990 and 1995 to just 40 by 2005. In Brazil’s Iguaçu National Park alone, only 11 jaguars remained by 2009 .
The causes are familiar to conservationists worldwide: habitat loss, depletion of prey species, poaching, and retaliatory killings by ranchers protecting livestock. The Atlantic Forest has lost more than 80% of its original cover, and what remains is severely fragmented. Roads, farms, and settlements split the forest into isolated patches, trapping jaguars in small, genetically isolated populations .
The Iguaçu-Iguazú Success Story
Against this bleak backdrop, the recovery of jaguars in the Iguaçu-Iguazú region stands as one of Latin America’s most inspiring conservation success stories.
The turnaround began in earnest in the early 2010s, driven by persistent efforts from biologist Yara Barros, executive coordinator of the Project Jaguars of Iguaçu, and her team in Brazil, alongside their counterparts in Argentina’s Proyecto Yaguareté . Their approach was holistic: research, community outreach, education, and cross-border collaboration.
“We usually say: ‘Where there are jaguars, there’s life,'” Barros told Mongabay. “To maintain a jaguar population in the long term means [the ecosystem] is healthy and balanced” .
The results have been remarkable. By 2025, jaguar numbers within Brazil’s Iguaçu National Park had risen to at least 28, while across the entire Green Corridor, the population had more than doubled to at least 105 individuals . In April 2025, Barros received the prestigious Whitley Award from the UK’s Whitley Fund for Nature, recognizing her work and providing £50,000 (approximately $67,500) in prize funding to expand conservation efforts .
Turning Fear into Fascination
Central to Barros’s approach is transforming how local communities perceive jaguars. “One of our goals is to transform fear into fascination, and we actively work towards coexistence between jaguars and humans,” she explains .
The area surrounding Iguaçu National Park is home to approximately 500,000 residents across ten cities . Historically, ranchers who lost cattle to jaguar predation would kill the cats in retaliation. Barros’s team has worked to change this dynamic through education and practical support.
Since 2018, they have visited nearly 2,000 properties and responded to 137 predation incidents . Today, instead of killing jaguars, landowners first reach out to Barros’s team to resolve conflicts. The project has introduced anti-predation devices like Foxlights—solar-powered lights that flash at random intervals during the night, simulating human activity and deterring jaguars from approaching livestock . Combined with better livestock management and predation prevention training, these measures have reduced cattle losses while saving jaguar lives.
“A lot of fear comes from not understanding,” Barros says. “When someone calls us saying they saw a jaguar or had an incident, we respond immediately—even in the middle of the night. This builds trust that we’re here to help solve the problem, so they don’t feel they have to kill the jaguar” .
The Jaguar Crocheteers
Perhaps the most creative element of the project is the Jaguar Crocheteers, a women-led initiative that currently includes 17 local artisans across three municipalities . These women crochet jaguar-themed items for sale and awareness campaigns. For many, it has become their main source of income, creating an economic connection to jaguar conservation.
“It’s created a strong connection with the jaguars—and also among the municipalities themselves,” said Claudiane Tavares, a project supply coordinator and member of the initiative. “It’s not often we’re able to connect people from different towns around a shared cause. But all of them are united by the jaguars” .
Institutional Recognition
The project has also influenced formal institutions. In 2023, it partnered with the airport in Foz do Iguaçu, the gateway city to the park, making it the first airport in Brazil to be certified “Jaguar Friendly” . The certification means the airport supports research, provides jaguar-themed information to travelers, and implements safety measures to prevent wildlife incursions.
In March 2024, the Paraná state government published its Technical Report of the State Action Plan (PAE), developed in collaboration with researchers, government agencies, civil society, and landowners. The five-year plan focuses on restoring and connecting habitats, curbing hunting and vehicle strikes, and promoting human-wildlife coexistence .
The Indigenous Stewardship Model
In Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia, a different approach to jaguar conservation is unfolding—one led by Indigenous communities with support from a nationwide government initiative.
Fábio Titiah, an Indigenous leader and cacique (chief) of the Caramuru-Paraguassu territory, recalls the night he encountered a black jaguar while walking a trail to the village of Água Vermelha. At around 10 p.m., a shadow burst from the undergrowth and sprang across the road—a black jaguar, one of the rarest animals in the Atlantic Forest .
For Titiah, the sighting was both spiritual and practical: evidence that his community’s land management practices were working.
“When we started the reclamation process, when we [re]occupied our territories, we found a large part of our land transformed into cattle pasture,” Titiah told Mongabay. “Then our people left a good part of these areas to regenerate. Some animals that hadn’t been seen here before started appearing. The jaguar started to return” .
Ywy Ipuranguete: Beautiful Lands
The transformation of the Caramuru-Paraguassu territory has been enabled in part by Ywy Ipuranguete (meaning “beautiful lands” in the Tupi-Guarani language), a nationwide project launched in March 2025 by Brazil’s Ministry of Indigenous Peoples . Backed by $9 million in funding from the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, the initiative supports Indigenous stewardship across 15 territories covering approximately 6 million hectares (15 million acres) of some of Brazil’s most threatened biomes, including the Atlantic Forest, Amazon, Pantanal, Caatinga, and Cerrado .
The initiative recognizes what scientists have long documented: Indigenous-managed lands are often the most effective at protecting biodiversity. A 2023 study found that eight of the top ten highest-priority protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon for jaguar conservation are Indigenous territories, including Arariboia, Kayapó, Xingu, and Yanomami .
Ronaldo Morato, a jaguar expert with the IUCN Cat Specialist Group and Brazil director for wildcat conservation NGO Panthera, explains: “Jaguar population densities are higher in Indigenous lands, which generally experience lower deforestation rates and have higher ecological connectivity than non-Indigenous protected areas” .
In Bahia, the Pataxó Hãhãhãe community is now working to organize how their territory is used and protected, balancing production, conservation, and traditional practices. “The spotted jaguar, which people hadn’t heard of, started appearing,” Titiah says. “This is a demonstration that where the community arrives and starts to occupy, these animals start to reappear as well” .
Small-Scale Rewilding: The Felinos do Aguaí Institute
In the southern state of Santa Catarina, a grassroots organization called the Instituto Felinos do Aguaí (IFA) has been working since 2005 to restore fragmented habitats and protect wild felines . Founded by photographer and mountaineer Júnior Santos after recording a puma track in the Aguaí State Biological Reserve, the Institute operates in rugged mountainous areas and remnants of the Atlantic Forest that have been historically impacted by deforestation, agriculture, mining, and other pressures .
The Aguaí Reserve is home to five wild feline species: pumas, ocelots, margays, jaguarundis, and southern tiger cats . These top predators require large, connected territories to thrive, but roads, farms, and settlements have fragmented the forest, trapping wild cats in small, isolated populations .
From Observation to Restoration
Over time, the Institute’s research revealed a critical truth: protecting wild cats meant restoring forests and rebuilding relationships with local communities. As their website explains, “protecting wild cats meant restoring forests and rebuilding relationships with the people who live alongside them” .
The team expanded their work, becoming reforesters and educators. In 2023, they built a forest nursery to grow native seedlings and reconnect forest fragments . To date, they have restored eight strategic areas adjacent to the reserve, planting 663 native seedlings across 3,200 m² .
They have also built four water retention structures (“caxambus”) at springs, safeguarding water supply for over 300,000 people and reducing soil erosion .
Measurable Impact
The Institute’s work has produced tangible results:
- 7 wild felines rehabilitated and released back into their natural habitats
- 256 wildlife species monitored, strengthening scientific knowledge and informing environmental policies
- 388 spay/neuter procedures and 269 vaccinations conducted for companion animals, protecting both wildlife and community health
- Over 200 local residents participating directly in restoration activities
The return of pumas, birds, and other wildlife demonstrates that even small-scale restoration can support rewilding at a landscape level.
The Next Frontier: Jaguar Reintroduction
While some populations are recovering, others remain conspicuously absent. A 2025 study published in the journal Mammalia surveyed wildlife in the Juréia-Itatins Ecological Station (EEJI), one of the last preserved reserves of Brazil’s coastal Atlantic Forest . Using 28 camera traps deployed from December 2021 to February 2022, researchers documented 26 species of medium and large vertebrates, including ample prey for jaguars. But the apex predator itself was notably absent.
The study’s authors concluded that these findings “suggest the potential for jaguar reintroduction as a focus for future conservation efforts” .
Reintroduction is a complex undertaking. A 2023 study published in Oryx examined the translocation of a male jaguar into an area with a resident population in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, assessing whether translocation could be an effective conservation tool . The success of such efforts depends on addressing the factors that led to local extinction in the first place—habitat loss, prey depletion, and human-wildlife conflict.
Building Corridors Across Borders
The ultimate vision for jaguar conservation in the Atlantic Forest extends far beyond individual protected areas. The Jaguar Rivers Initiative, announced in September 2025, aims to create ecological corridors spanning 2.5 million km² across Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay .
The project seeks to use major waterways—including the Paraguay, Iguaçu, Paraná, Pilcomayo, and Bermejo rivers—as natural connectors where animals can move and find refuge. The territory is divided into four categories:
- “Arks” : cores of protected areas with very high biodiversity
- Buffer zones : where sustainable activities like adapted cattle ranching can be developed
- “Trampolines” : habitat fragments every 150 km for species dispersal
- Rivers and wetlands : serving as natural migration corridors
The covered area includes 1.2 million km² in Brazil, concentrated in the Pantanal in Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso, and in the Atlantic Forest in Paraná—a region where jaguars are critically endangered.
“It is also important to involve the local population, whether Indigenous peoples or riverine communities, and create a nature-based economy, with ecotourism or other activities, so that these populations benefit from the initiative,” stresses Mário Haberfeld, founder of the NGO Onçafari .
Challenges Ahead
Despite these successes, significant challenges remain. Jaguar populations in the Atlantic Forest are still isolated in fragments, separated by agricultural lands and urban areas. Ensuring long-term genetic connectivity between these populations will require ambitious landscape-scale conservation.
“Jaguars are very adaptable mammals and can adjust to many different environmental conditions, but those conditions dictate the density of wild prey and the size of jaguar home ranges,” says Rafael Hoogesteijn, a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group. “The problem is that in all Latin America, habitat loss is accelerating, so it’s very important to maintain protected areas intact without deforestation and the corridors between them to maintain the genetic connectivity of populations” .
Political will is also essential. The 2021 proposal to reopen the Estrada do Colono road through Iguaçu National Park would have fragmented jaguar habitat and increased access for poachers. The plan was shelved after fierce opposition from conservationists, but similar threats could emerge elsewhere .
Conclusion: The Jaguar as Symbol
The jaguar is more than just an apex predator—it is a symbol of the wild Atlantic Forest itself. Its presence indicates a healthy, functioning ecosystem. Its absence signals something broken.
Across Brazil, from the Iguaçu-Iguazú border to the Aguaí Reserve, from the Caramuru-Paraguassu Indigenous Territory to the laboratories of academic researchers, people are working to bring the jaguar back. They are planting trees, vaccinating dogs, crocheting toys, and building corridors. They are transforming fear into fascination, conflict into coexistence.
“Jaguars are very adaptable mammals and can adjust to many different environmental conditions,” the scientists remind us . Perhaps, with enough help, they can adjust to us—and we to them.
The return of the jaguar to the Atlantic Forest is not just a conservation goal; it is a measure of our willingness to share this continent with the magnificent creatures that were here long before us. In the golden eyes of a jaguar glimpsed through the forest undergrowth, we see both the wildness we have lost and the wildness we might still recover.