Jaguar-Caiman encounter in Brazil, Misattributed to Yala, Sri Lanka!

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In Sri Lanka, locals are fascinated with observing wild animals and their behaviours. However, footage from foreign countries is often shared on social media as if captured in Sri Lanka.

This misattribution can lead to misconceptions about the country's wildlife diversity and behaviour patterns. Clarifying the origin of such footage is essential to ensure accurate representation and appreciation of Sri Lanka's rich natural heritage.

Social Media Posts

A video circulating on social media with the caption "In Yala, Last Afternoon" purportedly shows a big wild cat attacking a large alligator in the Yala National Park, Sri Lanka river.

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This video was shared among several social media users in Sri Lanka.

However, many have questioned the veracity of this claim. Hence, we decided to dig deeper.

Fact Check

Location Misrepresentation: After investigating the keyframes from the viral video, using the Invid-We-Verify tool, we determined that the incident depicted in the clip did not occur at Yala National Park, Sri Lanka. The actual location is Pantanal National Park, Brazil.

Original Source Confirmation: The original video was uploaded by the JourneywithJaguars Team on 1^st November 2022, clearly indicating the actual location of the incident as the Brazilian Pantanal region - the largest tropical wetland in the world and one of the most pristine.

Benjamin James, a tour leader & photographer of the Journey with Jaguars team, also shared photos and short clips of the rare incident of a Jaguar hunting a large alligator. The unexpected, swift attack and the neck-snapping bite meant that, despite several struggles, the caiman had to succumb finally. Some of such posts are here & here.

The video shows A Jaguar & A Caiman, neither native to Sri Lanka.

Jaguars (Panthera onca) naturally range only in North and especially South America, whereas Leopard (Panthera pardus) is naturally distributed in the forest patches of Asia and Africa.

It's well-known that Jaguars do not live in Sri Lanka, and Anjali Watson, a wildlife conservationist, also confirmed that the animal in the video is a jaguar and not a leopard. Also, Sri Lanka is a habitat for crocodile species instead of caimans.

The ecology of jaguars and leopards is very similar; their predatory and aggressive habits and the similarities in golden yellow skin with camouflaging rosettes mean that one can sometimes be mistaken. However, a main discussed difference between the two species comes from Jaguars having spots inside the ring of larger rosettes. More on this here and here.

Also Read: කිඹුල් ප්‍රාහාරයකින් මිදී, එම කිඹුලාව ගොදුරු කරගන්නා චීටාවෙකුගේ වීඩියෝවේ ඇත්ත කතාව!

Further, research into recent incidents involving leopards and crocodiles in Sri Lanka led to this video captured recently in Yala National Park, which probably sparked certain social media users to create these misattributed video posts.

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Conclusion

The video of a jaguar attacking an alligator, claiming to be in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka, is misleading and inaccurately portrays the location of the actual jaguar-caiman encounter that happened in Brazil.