Tracking felines is helping restore fragmented parts of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.
What happens when observation turns into restoration.
Felines have always held our attention. Their incomparable gaze, the sinuousness of their strides, their tails dancing in the air, pure elegance. They reign at the top of the food chain.
Within the Aguaí State Biological Reserve in Brazil, wild cats were disappearing as their forest became increasingly fragmented. As top predators, they need large, connected territories. Roads, farms, and settlements split the forest into fragments, trapping wild cats in small, isolated populations.
Since 2005, the Felinos do Aguaí Institute has monitored the forest’s most elusive residents: pumas, ocelots, margays, jaguarundis, and tiger cats, using their presence to understand how the Atlantic Forest is changing.
Over time, their research revealed a bigger truth: protecting wild cats meant restoring forests and rebuilding relationships with the people who live alongside them. The team expanded their work, becoming reforesters and educators, weaving science, environmental education, and rewilding to support coexistence.
In 2023, that shift became tangible. They built a forest nursery to grow native seedlings and reconnect fragments of a once-continuous forest.
But forests don’t heal in isolation. Local communities are central to this work.
Through school visits, forest walks, and planting days, children learn to read the land, through tracks, birdsong, and changing seasons.
Together, they’ve planted 663 native trees, restored spring areas across the Aguaí Reserve, supporting a network of natural springs that feed local rivers. These rivers contribute to the São Bento River basin, whose reservoir supplies water to over 300K people.
In parallel to ecosystem recovery, 11 wild cats were rehabilitated.
Pumas keep breeding. King vultures and red howler monkeys have returned. And 317 companion animals have been vaccinated to protect wildlife and the community.
Today, Felinos do Aguaí shares this work on Restor, mapping restored areas, tracking change over time, and connecting with a global community working toward rewilding at scale.
Explore, learn from, and support the work unfolding in the Aguaí State Biological Reserve on Restor.
