Wildlife · Osa Peninsula, Puntarenas

Jaguar Encanto Reappears on Osa Camera Trap After Nearly 3 Years

A jaguar known as Encanto, first recorded on the Osa Peninsula in May 2023 and then missing from camera traps for almost 3 years, was photographed again on April 18, 2026, by Fundación Las Oncas. The news, made public on Sept. 13, 2026, confirms one animal is alive, but researchers warn it doesn't mean Osa's declining jaguar population is recovering.

By Pura-Verde.com Editors · Published October 30, 2026
Original report: The Tico Times: Costa Rica Jaguar Reappears After Nearly Three Years Off the Cameras (2026-09-13)

For almost 3 years, nobody knew what had happened to Encanto. The jaguar had walked past a camera trap on Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula in May 2023 and then vanished from the record. On April 18, 2026, it showed up again, alive, on a camera run by the conservation group Fundación Las Oncas. The sighting was made public in mid-September.

Encanto's return, in brief

Las Oncas first photographed Encanto on May 23, 2023, The Tico Times reported on Sept. 13, 2026. After that, the cat dropped out of the group's camera network entirely. Researchers couldn't tell whether it had died, moved to another area or simply stopped passing the cameras.

The new photo settles that question for now. Researchers confirmed the match by comparing the rosettes, the dark rings on a jaguar's coat, with earlier images. Every jaguar's pattern is unique, a bit like a fingerprint, which lets scientists follow individual animals for years without ever handling them.

The gap in records doesn't mean Encanto left the peninsula. Jaguars roam across large territories, and cameras only watch a few narrow points in a huge forest.

How Las Oncas watches Osa's big cats

Fundación Las Oncas runs about 35 camera traps across the Osa Peninsula and the Cordillera de Talamanca, recording day and night. Its head, conservation photographer Tico Haroutiounian, told El Observador that the cameras are what tell each animal's story. The group also pools its data with more than 30 allied organizations working in the South Pacific.

That data has had real-world uses. Haroutiounian said camera records helped justify buying land in 2025 to create the Las Oncas Conservation Reserve. The same cameras follow other individuals, including a melanistic, or mostly black, jaguar named Jagui, first identified when it was very young. Recent images show new scars on Jagui's face. Haroutiounian suggested fights with other jaguars as a possible cause, while noting a single photo can't confirm it.

Las Oncas doesn't publish exact locations of individual animals, to reduce the risk that people track or disturb them. We don't either.

Why one jaguar isn't proof of recovery

It's tempting to read Encanto's return as good news for jaguars as a whole. Researchers are careful not to. The Tico Times noted that one animal reappearing isn't evidence that the wider population is recovering.

The longer-term picture on Osa is worrying. In 2023, the Jaguar Program at the National University's wildlife institute (ICOMVIS-UNA) reported that Osa had the largest decline in records of jaguars and their prey among the sites it monitored, with hunting identified as a main cause, according to El Observador. That echoes warnings going back more than a decade. In a 2011 Tico Times report, Eduardo Carrillo, then director of ICOMVIS, explained that jaguar numbers in Corcovado National Park fell as poaching drove down peccaries, one of the cat's main prey, in the early 2000s.

The main threats today include:

• Prey loss from illegal hunting of peccaries, pacas and other animals jaguars eat.
• Habitat fragmentation, as forests outside protected areas are cleared or cut up by roads.
• Retaliatory killing after jaguars attack livestock on farms near the forest.

Peccary hunting remains a live issue on the peninsula, as we covered in the Osa peccary hunting investigation.

The corridor question: linking Osa to Talamanca

Corcovado and the rest of the Osa Peninsula are rich in wildlife but partly cut off from the vast forests of the Talamanca mountains to the northeast. A jaguar population isolated on a peninsula is more vulnerable to inbreeding and local extinction. Keeping or restoring forest corridors between Osa and Talamanca is widely seen as one of the key conservation challenges in southern Costa Rica, and our guide to nature reserves and wildlife corridors explains how those links work.

Las Oncas says its camera data helps pinpoint the corridor stretches that matter most, which is part of why long-running camera records are so valuable. A single photo of Encanto is a good story. Years of photos, across dozens of cameras, are what show where jaguars can still move and where they can't.

What it means for visitors to Osa

Seeing a jaguar in the wild on Osa is rare, and most visitors never do. The best way to support the cats, and the other animals in our guide to species conservation in Costa Rica, is indirect: hire licensed local guides, stay at lodges that protect forest on their land, and don't buy wild meat. To learn how one Osa community talks about life alongside big cats, see the community film about pumas and tapirs, and explore nature reserves on our map.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Encanto the jaguar?

Encanto is a jaguar first photographed on the Osa Peninsula by Fundación Las Oncas on May 23, 2023. It disappeared from camera traps until April 18, 2026, when it was recorded again.

How do researchers tell individual jaguars apart?

Each jaguar has a unique pattern of rosettes on its coat. Researchers compare new camera-trap photos with older ones to confirm whether it's the same animal.

Are there jaguars in Corcovado National Park?

Yes, jaguars live in Corcovado and across the Osa Peninsula, but research by the National University has found declining records of jaguars and their prey there, largely linked to hunting.

Can tourists see jaguars on the Osa Peninsula?

It's possible but rare. Jaguars are shy, wide-ranging and few in number. Going with a licensed guide in Corcovado gives you the best chance of spotting tracks or, occasionally, the cat itself.

Sources and original reporting

1. The Tico Times: Costa Rica Jaguar Reappears After Nearly Three Years Off the Cameras (2026-09-13)
2. El Observador: Video | Tres años sin noticias de Encanto: las cámaras trampa volvieron a encontrar al jaguar y revelaron mucho más (2026-09-13)
3. The Tico Times: In Costa Rica, the fight to save the hunted jaguars (2011-05-27)

We wrote this story from the published reports and official sources above. We didn't interview the people named unless the story says so.