Pantanal & Cerrado

Brazil's great wetland — the finest wildlife-watching in the Americas.

ClimateHot, with a flooded wet season and a dry winter.

LandscapeThe world's largest tropical wetland and vast savanna.

Species recorded102

Written profiles0

Groups present7

Coordinates-17.0°, -56.5°

About the Pantanal & Cerrado

The Pantanal is the largest tropical wetland in the world, a vast shallow floodplain that fills during the rains and drains slowly through the dry season. That annual pulse governs everything living there. Rising water spreads fish across flooded grassland to feed and spawn; falling water strands them in shrinking pools, and the concentration of prey that follows is why the Pantanal offers some of the most reliable wildlife watching anywhere — jaguars, caiman, giant otters and enormous congregations of wading birds all gather at the same shrinking water. The neighbouring Cerrado is a very different system, a fire-maintained tropical savanna with deep-rooted plants and exceptional plant diversity, and it has been converted to soy and cattle far faster than the Amazon.

Most-recorded wild species here

Photographed and identified by iNaturalist contributors in this region, ordered by number of records.

Giant Anteater

Myrmecophaga tridactyla

Mammals

Marsh Deer

Blastocerus dichotomus

Mammals

Nacunda Nighthawk

Chordeiles nacunda

Birds

Ocelot

Leopardus pardalis

Mammals

Roseate Spoonbill

Platalea ajaja

Birds

Sunbittern

Eurypyga helias

Birds

Smooth-billed Ani

Crotophaga ani

Birds

Giant Otter

Pteronura brasiliensis

Mammals

Six-banded Armadillo

Euphractus sexcinctus

Mammals

South American Ocelot

Leopardus pardalis mitis

Mammals

Hyacinth Macaw

Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus

Birds

Argentine Black-and-white Tegu

Salvator merianae

Reptiles

American Black-crowned Night Heron

Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli

Birds

Rhopalogaster araujoi

Insects

Southern Rough-winged Swallow

Stelgidopteryx ruficollis

Birds

Dilocarcinus pagei

Other animals

White-throated Piping-Guan

Pipile grayi

Birds

Black-collared Hawk

Busarellus nigricollis

Birds

Full species checklist

A further 84 species recorded in the Pantanal & Cerrado.

Common name	Scientific name	Group	Records
Hyda basilutea	Hyda basilutea	Insects	174
Cerrado Naked-tailed Armadillo	Cabassous squamicaudis	Mammals	173
Amazon Kingfisher	Chloroceryle amazona	Birds	170
South American Tapir	Tapirus terrestris	Mammals	164
Agami Heron	Agamia agami	Birds	163
Crab-eating Fox	Cerdocyon thous	Mammals	163
False Water Cobra	Hydrodynastes gigas	Reptiles	160
Pale-vented Pigeon	Patagioenas cayennensis	Birds	157
Diastatops intensa	Diastatops intensa	Insects	155
Savanna Hawk	Buteogallus meridionalis	Birds	152
Callithomia lenea	Callithomia lenea	Insects	146
Yacare Caiman	Caiman yacare	Reptiles	144
Rostrhamus sociabilis sociabilis	Rostrhamus sociabilis sociabilis	Birds	142
Southeastern Red Brocket	Mazama rufa	Mammals	138
Chestnut-bellied Guan	Penelope ochrogaster	Birds	136
Synoeca surinama	Synoeca surinama	Insects	134
Grayish Baywing	Agelaioides badius	Birds	133
Guira Cuckoo	Guira guira	Birds	131
Jabiru	Jabiru mycteria	Birds	130
Yellow-billed Tern	Sternula superciliaris	Birds	129
Ringed Kingfisher	Megaceryle torquata	Birds	128
Roadside Hawk	Rupornis magnirostris	Birds	126
Zatrephes crocos	Zatrephes crocos	Insects	125
Pampas Deer	Ozotoceros bezoarticus	Mammals	123
Capped Heron	Pilherodius pileatus	Birds	122
Black-and-gold Howler Monkey	Alouatta caraya	Mammals	117
Bay-winged Hawk	Parabuteo unicinctus unicinctus	Birds	116
Wattled Jacana	Jacana jacana	Birds	115
Crab-eating Raccoon	Procyon cancrivorus	Mammals	114
Dirce Beauty	Colobura dirce	Insects	111
Unicolored Blackbird (Yellow-breasted)	Agelasticus cyanopus cyanopus	Birds	110
Great Horned Owl	Bubo virginianus	Birds	109
Whistling Grass Frog	Leptodactylus fuscus	Amphibians	105
Greater Rhea	Rhea americana	Birds	104
Green Iguana	Iguana iguana	Reptiles	102
Philaethria pygmalion	Philaethria pygmalion	Insects	100
Bat Falcon	Falco rufigularis	Birds	99
Boat-billed Heron	Cochlearius cochlearius	Birds	97
South American Anhinga	Anhinga anhinga anhinga	Birds	96
Rufescent Tiger-Heron	Tigrisoma lineatum	Birds	88
Red-and-green Macaw	Ara chloropterus	Birds	87
Giant Cicada	Quesada gigas	Insects	85
Callionima guiarti	Callionima guiarti	Insects	82
Bolivian Salmon Pink Tarantula	Acanthoscurria chacoana	Arachnids	81
Black Skimmer	Rynchops niger	Birds	73
Red-throated Piping-Guan	Pipile cujubi	Birds	73
Red-shouldered Macaw	Diopsittaca nobilis	Birds	71
Yellow-billed Cardinal	Paroaria capitata	Birds	70
Common Giant Turtle Ant	Cephalotes atratus	Insects	66
Crested Caracara	Caracara plancus	Birds	64
Green Ibis	Mesembrinibis cayennensis	Birds	64
Great Black Hawk	Buteogallus urubitinga	Birds	63
Rusty-margined Flycatcher	Myiozetetes cayanensis	Birds	62
Black Vulture	Coragyps atratus	Birds	61
South American Wattled Jacana	Jacana jacana jacana	Birds	61
Orange-backed Troupial	Icterus croconotus	Birds	60
Oeda hamulata	Oeda hamulata	Insects	58
Pale-legged Weeping Frog	Physalaemus albonotatus	Amphibians	55
Southern Brown Brocket	Subulo gouazoubira	Mammals	54
Whistling Heron	Syrigma sibilatrix	Birds	52
Least Bittern	Botaurus exilis	Birds	49
Amazonian Motmot	Momotus momota	Birds	46
Great Potoo	Nyctibius grandis	Birds	45
Snail Kite	Rostrhamus sociabilis	Birds	45
Cocoi Heron	Ardea cocoi	Birds	44
Turquoise-fronted Amazon	Amazona aestiva	Birds	43
White-tipped Dove	Leptotila verreauxi	Birds	39
White-rumped Monjita	Xolmis velatus	Birds	34
Plumbeous Ibis	Theristicus caerulescens	Birds	32
Neotropic Cormorant	Nannopterum brasilianum	Birds	27
Lesser Bulldog Bat	Noctilio albiventris	Mammals	26
Thick-billed Euphonia	Euphonia laniirostris	Birds	22
Large-billed Tern	Phaetusa simplex	Birds	21
Chopí Blackbird	Gnorimopsar chopi	Birds	19
Fork-tailed Flycatcher	Tyrannus savana	Birds	15
Scarlet-headed Blackbird	Amblyramphus holosericeus	Birds	10
Lesser Kiskadee	Philohydor lictor	Birds	9
White-backed Stilt	Himantopus mexicanus melanurus	Birds	9
Black-capped Donacobius	Donacobius atricapilla	Birds	8
Campo Flicker	Colaptes campestris	Birds	8
Glittering-throated Emerald	Chionomesa fimbriata	Birds	5
Yellow-chinned Spinetail	Certhiaxis cinnamomeus	Birds	4
Giant Cowbird	Molothrus oryzivorus	Birds	3
Starry Night Cracker	Hamadryas laodamia	Insects	3

Pantanal & Cerrado

About the Pantanal & Cerrado

Most-recorded wild species here

Full species checklist

Groups found here

Mammals

Birds

Reptiles

Amphibians

Insects

Arachnids

Other animals