Amazon deforestation threatens jaguars, giant eagles

Amazon deforestation threatens jaguars, giant eagles

Boating slowly upriver through the Pantanal, the world’s biggest tropical wetlands, Brazilian biologist Fernando Tortato scans the bank for signs of Ousado, a jaguar badly burned in devastating wildfires last year. A thousand kilometers (600 miles) to the north, at the rapidly receding edge of the Amazon rainforest, conservationist Roberto Eduardo Stofel peers through his binoculars, monitoring a baby harpy eagle sitting alone in a giant nest, its parents apparently out searching for increasingly hard-to-find food.

The sleek, majestic jaguar and spectacularly powerful harpy eagle are two of the most iconic species threatened by the accelerating destruction of the Amazon, whose breathtaking biodiversity risks collapsing as the world’s biggest rainforest approaches a “tipping point.” Scientists say that is the point at which a vicious circle of deforestation, wildfires and climate change could damage the rainforest so badly it dies off and turns to savannah-with catastrophic consequences for its more than three million species of plants and animals.

‘Flying rivers’ drying up

The jaguar and harpy eagle are already feeling the impact. Ousado, a four-year-old, 75-kilogram (165-pound) male, was wounded a year ago when wildfires tore through the Pantanal, fueled by the region’s worst drought in 47 years. The region, which sits just south