Jaguar broke records by swimming at least 1.3 kilometers

Camera traps show that an adult male jaguar swam at least 1.3 kilometers to an island in the Terra Da Mesa dam in the center of Brazil – by far the longest swimming recorded by one of these animals.

In fact, the Jaguar may swim almost twice further. Reaching the island would have required a 1 km swim towards a small island, followed by 1.3 km swimming, or a direct swimming of 2.3 km from the continent constantly.

“We are conservatives assuming that this cat used a small island on the way as a springboard,” said Leandro Silveira to the Jaguar Conservation Fund in Brazil. “He could actually have swimming the 2.3 -kilometer straight line.”

Silveira says that, as far as he knows, it is the longest swim by any big cat that has been confirmed by direct evidence. Jaguars are known to be excellent swimmers who will even chase Caimans in the water. However, so far, there was no report on which they were swimming more than 200 meters at a time, explains Silveira.

In 2020, his team installed several camera traps around the Serra Da Mesa dam. In May of the same year, an adult man was photographed on the continent. Four years later, in August 2024, the same cat – identified by his distinct coat pattern – was recorded by a camera on the island.

This occurs after a Colle Couguar has been swimming 1.1 km to Squaxin Island off the coast of Washington’s state, and the observations suggest that couguars in the region swim up to 2 km up to certain islands. Two male lions were also filmed by swimming through a navigable track in Uganda last year, the estimated distance between 1 and 1.5 kilometers. In this case, motivation was considered to be reached by women who called on the other side.

Why the Jaguar made such a long swim is not clear. “The island is relatively small,” says Silveira. “As far as we know, there is no abundant prey on the island which would be a great attraction.”

Jaguars can probably swim much further. There is a population on the islands of Maracá – Jipioca more than 5 km off the coast of Brazil which would have undertaken jaguars of the continent.