meeting with the god of the Amazon rainforest

At the heart of one of the most mysterious forests on the planet, the largest, the most inaccessible, sometimes the most hostile, he is a legendary animal. A true myth that runs across an entire continent.

Over the millions of square kilometers of the Amazon, the jaguar reigns supreme. But, for several years, its attacks have increased in Guyana against dogs and livestock. Faced with the Amazon's largest predator, the Guyanese are forced to rethink their relationship with their environment and their place in nature.

Watch here “Guyana, living with the jaguar” in its entirety.

The king of felines has always fascinated and nourished the imagination of the people of Guyana. Object of ancestral worship, but also object of study and love, tourist attraction, he leaves an indelible mark among those who live alongside him. However, in recent years, the largest feline in South America has embodied a new danger, a threat.

In Guyana, in the wealthy suburb of Cayenne, retiree Patrick Faledam knows, one morning, “theis afraid of his life” while he faces a jaguar in his garden ! The news spread quickly, the health authorities went to the site and the animal was anesthetized under the gaze of the cameras.

An emblematic animal of the Amazon rainforest, as stealthy as it is mysterious, what does a jaguar do in an inhabited area? This incursion is far from being an isolated act. The boundaries between men and the jaguar are shifting, two worlds cross at the risk of clashing.

Thus, Yannik Benth, a farmer, realized that his herd of cattle was terrorized: “the animals were running everywhere, breaking the fences“. His cattle were then frequently attacked by a jaguar. He lost more than thirty animals. After months of stalking and anguish, he finally killed the predator.

In 2023, there will be more than 200 attacks on livestock. Attacks on dogs exist but are not recorded in Guyana.

Stéphanie Barthe, Technical and Knowledge Unit

Two universes collide. From the depths of his old garden, the feline, and former master of the entire American continent, seems to question the new owners.

HAS Today, the Cayenne agglomeration brings together nearly 150 000 inhabitants, or a third of the Guyanese population. Real estate programs are spreading more and more over the peninsula and the forest, once omnipresent, is reduced to islands of nature where a whole range of wild life still thrives. How much space does everyone have left? ? How to coexist ?

HAS the edge of the habitations, the most cunning king of the jungle would be like a whistleblower, whose repeated intrusions would sound like a warning. To understand it better, some people strive, on a daily basis, to know it better. This is the case of Stéphanie Barthe who works at the French Biodiversity Office in Kourou. His service studies the animal's behavior using radio collars and photo traps.

The jaguar is the king of the jungle, the top predator, it is the animal that we are afraid to see but that we would like to see. It exudes power and presence that triggers an emotion.

Stéphanie Barthe, Technical and Knowledge Unit of the French Biodiversity Office

However, this predator knows how to make itself invisible. Facing him, breeders, scientists, Native Americans and a whole new generation of Guyanese who wish to rethink cohabitation with nature.

At the Macouria zoo, ethologist Margot Traimont took care of the zoo's star for a long time, the jaguar “Papy” and devoted a lot of time to studying the behavior of this animal who died in 2023. Today, she continues his behavioral study of the jaguar, with Tama, a female with a black coat.

For Native Americans, who live near the river and the forest, encounters with the jaguar are frequent. This cohabitation being ancestral, they know what actions to adopt so that everything goes well with the animal, even if sometimes, it steals game from hunters.

The jaguar is a sacred animal, it is an animal that is not killed. When we see them, we move away. For us everything has a soul, the river, the forest, the animals.

Nicolas Chaumier, resident of Camopi

The cultural link with the jaguar is common to all the native peoples of Guyana, Teko, Wayampi, Wayana, Kali'na, and others, all have created a unique relationship with the king of the forest. And if over the centuries the Amerindians have been able to organize life with the jaguar, for many coastal Guyanese it remains this cumbersome neighbor that we would like to no longer see.

Find out here “Guyana, living with the jaguar” in his integrity.

Duration : 52 min
Realization : Thomas Yzèbe
Production :13 Prods and Kanopé Films with the participation of
France Televisions
© 2023