List of reported attacks and species involved in Latin America.
Reptiles
Snakes
Snake bites are a major problem in Latin America, with an estimated 70,000 cases every year. Due to underreporting (likely a result of inadequate transportation or limited communications in rural communities), these numbers are estimated to be much higher. The main species involved in accidents are viperids, especially lanceheads (Bothrops) and rattlesnakes (Crotalus). Within Central America, Panama records approximately 2,000 bites every year, while Costa Rica has some of the highest lethality rates, at 0.5% of bites resulting in death. In South America, Brazil reports that around 0.42% of bites result in death, with 70-90% of bites in Brazil being caused by lanceheads. The most notorious species include Bothrops asper (Mexico, south to northern South America), Bothrops atrox (in the Amazon rainforest) and Bothrops jararaca (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay). Despite their aggressive reputation, and stereotyped as a 'human-chaser', bites by bushmasters (Lachesis) are rare, but the mortality rate is higher. Among elapids, the new-world coral snakes (Leptomicrurus, Micrurus, Micruroides) are responsible for only 1-2% of incidents, while bites by the yellow-bellied sea snake are even more rare. (See Snakebites in Latin America). In Brazil, the South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus) is responsible for some of the highest rates of untreated bites leading to death (around 72% of cases); with proper medical treatment and serum, this number is reduced to approx. 11%.
Attacks by large snakes, such as the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus), are quite rare due to the snakes generally avoiding noisy human settlements; likewise, the anaconda's preferred habitat is usually dense forest, and virtually inaccessible to people. In 2007, in Brazil, a green anaconda attacked an 8-year-old boy; however, he was saved by his 66-year-old grandfather.
Crocodilians
Black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) The black caiman is a large crocodilian—one of the largest in the Americas—measuring up to in length, and weighing up to 300 kg. The species occurs in the rivers and lakes of the Amazon Basin, and south to the Pantanal region into northern Argentina. Attacks are uncommon, despite the caiman's grumpy nature, with most incidences affecting fisherman and rural villagers who swim or bathe in caiman-inhabited waterways; in 2010, an 11-year-old boy died from a black caiman attack. The spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) also has been reported to occasionally attack humans in South America. In the sixteen-year period from 2000 to 2016, just 23 fatal attacks by black caiman were recorded, mainly in the Amazon Basin.
Orinoco crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius) The Orinoco crocodile is the largest reptilian predator in the Americas, and also the most critically endangered due to humans. Currently only found in Colombia and Venezuela, the color of its body varies from greenish gray and tan to gray, mirrored with dark green. The Orinoco crocodile has short legs with a powerful tail, and the largest recorded animal reached almost in length, but normally they do not exceed long. A small number of better-documented fatal attacks were reported in the 1900s–1930s, when the species was still relatively common and unaffected by human encroachment. The only well-documented recent attack, on a fisherman in 2009, was initially serious but not fatal.
American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) The American crocodile inhabits Florida, in the United States, as well as México, on both coasts (except for Baja California). Its range continues south to northern South America, with the most dense population being found in Costa Rica. The American crocodile grows up to long with a weight of around 2,000 pounds, or up to one metric ton. American crocodiles have been known to attack, and even kill, humans and domestic animals that drink at the water's edge. From 1995 to 2017, 36 attacks were reported in Cancún, Mexico, with many incidents resulting from poor judgment by tourists or intoxicated individuals. Since 2013, there have been eight attacks in Costa Rica, with two against surfers, as the crocodiles are known to frequent crowded beaches and are highly tolerant of saltwater; at Tamarindo Beach, a man had to have a leg amputated after an attack.
Mammals
Jaguar (Panthera onca) The jaguar is a compact and well-muscled animal. It is the largest cat native to the Americas and the third largest in the world, exceeded in size by the tiger and the lion. Its coat is generally a tawny yellow, but ranges to reddish-brown, for most of the body. The ventral areas are white. The fur is covered with rosettes for camouflage in the dappled light of its forest habitat. The spots and their shapes vary between individual jaguars: rosettes may include one or several dots. The spots on the head and neck are generally solid, as are those on the tail, where they may merge to form a band. Jaguars living in forests are often darker and considerably smaller than those living in open areas, possibly due to the smaller numbers of large, herbivorous prey in forest areas. Its size and weight vary considerably: weights are normally in the range of . Exceptionally big males have been recorded to weigh as much as . The smallest females weigh about . It is sexually dimorphic with females typically 10–20% smaller than males. The length, from the nose to the base of the tail, varies from . The tail is the shortest of any big cat, at in length. Legs are also short, but thick and powerful, considerably shorter when compared to a small tiger or lion in a similar weight range. The jaguar stands tall at the shoulders.Further variations in size have been observed across regions and habitats, with size tending to increase from north to south. Jaguars in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the Pacific coast of central Mexico weighed around , about the size of a female cougar. Jaguars in Venezuela and Brazil are much larger with average weights of about in males and of about in females. Attacks by jaguars are rare, some fatal and non-fatal cases have been reported in Central Brazil. Jaguars did not evolve eating large primates, and do not normally see humans as food. Experts have cited them as the least likely of all big cats to kill and eat humans, and the majority of attacks come when it has been cornered or wounded. However, such behavior appears to be more frequent where humans enter jaguar habitat, and decrease prey. Captive jaguars sometimes attack zookeepers. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Americas, they feared jaguars. Nevertheless, even in those times, the jaguar's chief prey was the capybara in South America, and the peccary further north. Charles Darwin reported a saying of indigenous peoples of the Americas that people would not have to fear the jaguar, as long as capybaras were abundant.
Cougar (Puma concolor) Cougars are slender and agile members of the Felidae. They are the fourth-largest cat species worldwide;Expanding Cougar Population. The Cougar Net.org adults stand about tall at the shoulders.Florida Panther Facts. Florida Panther Refuge Adult males are around long from nose to tail tip, and females average , with overall ranges between nose to tail suggested for the species in general. Of this length, the tail typically accounts for .Shivaraju, A. (2003) Puma concolor . Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Retrieved on September 15, 2011. Males generally weigh , averaging . Females typically weigh between , averaging . Cougar size is smallest close to the equator and larger towards the poles. The largest recorded cougar, shot in 1901, weighed ; claims of and have been reported, though they were most likely exaggerated. On average, adult male cougars in British Columbia weigh and adult females , though several male cougars in British Columbia weighed between . Depending on the locality, cougars can be smaller or bigger than jaguars, but are less muscular and not as powerfully built so their weight is on average less. Whereas cougars tend to be larger as distance increases from the equator, which crosses the northern portion of South America, jaguars are simply generally smaller north of the Amazon River in South America and larger south of that river. For example, while South American jaguars are comparatively large and may exceed , those in Mexico's Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve weigh about the same as female cougars (approximately ).
Pumas in the Southern Cone of America – often called Argentine cougars by North Americans – are reputed to be extremely reluctant to attack man; in legend, they defended people against jaguars. The nineteenth century naturalists Félix de Azara and William Henry Hudson thought that attacks on people, even children or sleeping adults, did not happen. Hudson, citing anecdotal evidence from hunters, claimed that pumas were positively inhibited from attacking people, even in self-defense. In fact, attacks on humans, although exceedingly rare, have occurred.
An early, authenticated, non-fatal case occurred near Lake Viedma, Patagonia in 1877 when a female mauled the Argentine scientist Francisco P. Moreno; Moreno afterwards showed the scars to Theodore Roosevelt. In this instance, however, Moreno had been wearing a guanaco-hide poncho round his neck and head as protection against the cold; in Patagonia the guanaco is the puma's chief prey animal. Another authenticated case occurred In 1997 in Iguazú National Park, northeast Argentina when the 20-month son of a ranger was killed by a female puma. Forensic analysis found specimens of the child's hair and clothing fibers in the animal's stomach. In this area the coatí is the puma's chief prey. Despite prohibitory signs, coatis are hand-fed by tourists in the park, causing unnatural approximation between cougars and humans. This particular puma had been raised in captivity and released into the wild. In 2012 a 23-year-old woman was found dead in a mountainous area in Salta Province in northwest Argentina. Claw incisions, which severed a jugular vein, indicated that the attacker was a felid; differential diagnosis ruled out other possible perpetrators. There were no bite marks on the victim, who had been herding goats.
Another fatal attack occurred back in October 2020. Ana Mella Castillo, 28, from the southern Chilean city of Valdivia, was attacked and killed by a Puma in a rural area of the nearby town of Corral, Chile, where she was visiting family, on October 20.
According to local media, the woman left the house at roughly 5pm local time to walk her two dogs. Family members got worried when the 28-year-old did not return home, and went out to look for her.
They found her body in what photos reveal to be a wooded area, and it was covered in wounds thought to have been caused by a wild animal.
Emergency services were called to the scene, who concluded the attack was likely carried out by a puma or other similar animal.
This theory has reportedly been supported by the fact that family members had seen several of the big cats in the area and that the victim's father had allegedly been attacked a few days prior by another puma.
In July 2023, another attack was reported in Chile. Sonia del Carmen Hernández Alvarado, a 76-year-old woman went missing from her home in Petrohué, a village in Chile just under 300 miles south of the capital, Santiago. Searchers found her badly mauled corpse just 4 days after she went missing. Authorities believe that Sonia, the elderly woman was attacked and killed by a large Puma, as the injuries she sustained seemed to have been caused by a big cat.