Jaguar Cubs Wrestle and Play in Trail-Cam Footage From Argentina

The cutest trail-cam footage is also significant, as it shows a rare litter of three jaguar cubs in Argentina’s Iberá Wetlands. Rewilding Argentina, an environmental organization, posted the footage on LinkedIn, explaining that “for the first time we registered a litter of THREE cubs, something quite unusual for the species, which in general usually brings up one or two cubs.”

What’s more, Rewilding Argentina says jaguars were extinct in this area for most of the last century. Two years ago, the organization observed the first jaguar cubs “born and conceived in the wild in Iberá after 70 years of extinction in the area.” And now, they’ve observed a litter of three cubs—a surprising and delightful find.

The video itself is also delightful. In the trail-cam footage shared by the Center for Biological Diversity, you can watch as the mom jaguar wrestles and snuggles with her cubs and as all three cubs wrestle and play with each other.

The Center for Biological Diversity works with Rewilding Argentina in the United States to explore historical and occupied jaguar habitat in Arizona and New Mexico.

“[The Rewilding Argentina team] successfully reintroduced jaguars into formerly occupied habitat at the species’ southern range in Argentina’s Iberá. The last jaguar in the area was killed in 1953. But thanks to ReWilding Argentina, now 25 jaguars thrive there,” the Center says in its LinkedIn post.

Rewilding Argentina’s efforts in South America inspire and inform the Center’s own work to restore jaguars to their historic northern homelands in the U.S. Southwest.

Isn’t it funny how even jaguars play like house cats?

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