Considered the best place on the planet to see jaguars in the wild, the Pantanal may harbor as many as a thousand of the big cats. A surplus of prey and abundant waterways make the wetlands an ideal habitat for the water-loving felines.
Ged Caddick/Ecotours.com
Giant anteaters scour grasslands for ants, termites, beetles, bees and other insects. And they really are giant, larger than a German shepherd and meaner than a mad dog when cornered. With four-inch claws, anteaters are said to be the only animal that can fend off a jaguar attack.
Joe Yogerst
Fierce predators and excellent swimmers, giant otters roam the Pantanal in extended family groups of as many as two dozen animals. Although they will eat small snakes and baby caiman, their favorite food is fish, including piranha.
Joe Yogerst
Almost driven to extinction in the 1990s by tropical bird traffickers, hyacinth macaws were saved by the efforts of Campo Grande biology student Neiva Guedes, who started a conservation program. Guedes installed artificial nests, hand-fed macaw chicks and lobbied for stricter poaching enforcement.
Ged Caddick/Ecotours.com
With an estimated 10 million of the reptiles spread across the Pantanal, the caiman is the wetlands' most ubiquitous animal. A smaller cousin of the crocodile or alligator, they are generally not a threat to humans and are a main food source for the region's big cats.
Joe Yogerst
The world's largest rodent, capybara can weigh 175 pounds (80 kilograms) or more. They are highly adapted for the Pantanal environment, with webbed feet that make them excellent swimmers who can linger underwater for several minutes if threatened.
Joe Yogerst
With more than 650 species of resident or migratory birds, the Pantanal is one of the best places in South America for close encounters of the avian kind. In addition to macaws, the list of feathered friends includes Jabiru storks, toucans, pygmy owls, caracara falcons, roseate spoonbills and rufescent tiger-herons (pictured).
Ged Caddick/Ecotours.com
An aquatic version of the gauchos who roam the pampas of South America, Pantanal cowboys (pantaneiros) have developed special ways to ranch the wetlands, including horses that can graze on underwater grasses and work in waterways teeming with piranha and caiman.
Joe Yogerst
The best way to explore the southern Pantanal is on horseback, with guided trail rides across the wetlands offered by many of the local fazenda (ranches). Conditioned by three centuries of equestrian activity in the wetlands, the indigenous wildlife is unfazed by horses and riders.
Joe Yogerst
Stretching 91-miles (147 kilometers) between Poconé and Porto Jofre, the Transpantaneira is the only land route into the northern Pantanal. The unpaved highway boasts 122 bridges, most of them wooden. It's not uncommon to see jaguars, caiman and other creatures wandering along the roadway.
Joe Yogerst
Located near the southern edge of the Pantanal, the town of Bonito is renowned for its karst (limestone) geology, a landscape rife with freshwater lagoons, waterfalls and flooded caverns. Local ecotourism outfits offer snorkeling, spelunking, rappelling and other adventure sports.