Jaguar breaks records by swimming at least 1.3 kilometres

Recent evidence from camera traps has confirmed that this extraordinary jaguar swam at least 1.3 kilometers to reach an island in the reservoir of the Serra da Mesa dam, located in central Brazil. This distance establishes the longest documented swim by a jaguar to date.

The swimming distance might be even greater. To reach that island, it could have undertaken either a swim of about 1 kilometer to a small intermediate island, followed by the lengthy swim of 1.3 kilometers, or a direct swim of 2.3 kilometers straight from the mainland.

“We are cautious in estimating that this feline used a smaller island for respite,” notes Leandro Silveira from the Jaguar Conservation Fund in Brazil. “It’s plausible that it swam directly the full 2.3 kilometers without stopping.”

As highlighted by Silveira, this remarkable swim may be the longest by any big cat confirmed through direct observation. While jaguars have long been recognized for their swimming prowess and even preying upon caimans in the water, previous reports indicated that they typically swam no more than 200 meters in one go.

Starting in 2020, Silveira’s team installed numerous camera traps around the Serra da Mesa Dam, capturing footage of an adult male on the mainland in May of that year. Fast forward four years to August 2024, and the same individual, identifiable by its unique coat pattern, was photographed on the island.

This significant discovery follows reports of a collared cougar, which made a 1.1-kilometer swim to Squaxin Island in Washington State, along with observations suggesting some cougars swim as far as 2 kilometers to reach various islands. Similarly, last year, two male lions were seen crossing a waterway in Uganda, estimated to swim between 1 to 1.5 kilometers, presumably motivated by the presence of potential mates on the opposite shore.

The jaguar’s motivations for this extensive swim remain elusive. “The island is relatively small,” Silveira points out. “So far, there is no evidence of significant prey that would attract the jaguar.”

It is worth noting that jaguars are capable of much longer swims. There’s a population present on the Maracá-Jipioca islands off the Brazilian coast that is believed to have interbred with mainland jaguars, suggesting these magnificent creatures possess considerable aquatic distance capabilities.