Andres Novales Wildlife recently shared stunning photos of a rare wild cat that lives in the Pantanal, a large tropical wetland in South America. Novales says he and his group were looking for jaguars when they saw “a dark creature on the riverbank.” It wasn’t an otter, which was his first thought; it was a jaguarundi. If you’ve never seen one of these unique animals before, the photos might stump you a bit at first.

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“It was a cold, very cloudy morning and jaguar activity was not the highest,” Novales wrote in his Facebook post sharing the photos. “From quite a distance I spotted a dark creature on the riverbank. My boat driver and guide saw it too, but none of us were sure what our eyes were seeing. [. . .] We were already pretty close when I finally saw what it was, and I just could not believe it: a jaguarundi, chilling on the exposed bank at the water’s edge, presumably drinking.”

See the photos of a jaguarundi in Brazil below.

Header stock image by diegograndi/Getty Images

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