Last Wild Places: Iberá | National Geographic

(Inspirational music) (Thunder rolls)

[Sebastián] Iberá was a place that was degraded by humans. And it's a place that is being recovered by humans. It's an incredible example of what we can achieve if we have the decision of restoring an ecosystem on a large scale. (Hooves thundering) (Birds singing) (Crickets chirping) (Girth creaking) (Hand patting) (Grass rustling) My job is related mostly to bring back the species that went extinct in these different national parks in which we are working. (Speaking in foreign language) (Gentle melancholy music) The biggest project is based here in Iberá... A big project, sometimes so complicated that you cannot do it by yourself. In Rewilding Argentina, we developed a team that is an incredible group of people. They are passionate for their work. (Static buzzing) The very first species that we reintroduced here in Iberá was the giant anteater. Every animal that we release has a transmitter. That way, we can follow the animal after it's been released. (Transmitter buzzing) (Speaking in foreign language) So the guys that monitor them can look at them several times a week, and see how they are adapting to their new environment. (Transmitter beeping) (Branches cracking) (Speaking in foreign language) (Man whistles) (Speaking in foreign language) (Birds singing) (Speaking in foreign language) (Branches cracking) They are doing incredibly well by their own. So the anteater is a story of success, really. (Gentle guitar music)

We are in the northeastern part of Argentina, in a province called Corrientes, in the Iberá National Park. It's one of the biggest wetlands of South America. It's a very productive ecosystem. It's full of mammals, and birds, and reptiles, and also a lot of species that went extinct in the last century. There were a lot of hunters inside the marsh. They started to hunt birds to get the feathers. And they then turned to other species like caimans, capybaras, jaguars, to get their skins. Our vision is to try to help reverse the biodiversity extinction crisis that we are facing. (Water splashing) How we do that in Argentina is by protecting what is left. That's why we create big national parks like Iberá. And we restore the land mostly by reintroducing keystone species that went extinct that are crucial for the ecosystem functioning. We are working in different places in Iberá. So far there are six different places where we are reintroducing species. And then we develop economic activity for the local people, so they can get benefits from that park that is going to be created, and the wildlife that we are starting to recover. Some of the species that now are very common, those ones they could recover. But others could never recover by themselves. (Car engine rumbling)

For us to start the project, we have to bring animals from captivity. So now we are heading to one of the quarantines that we have for the project. In this quarantine, we also have a giant anteater rescue center. Every year several animals arrive at the center. Most of them are orphans whose mothers have been killed by poachers. All of the animals that come from captivity start their journey in the project in the quarantine. (Hand brake creaks) (Door opens) (Door closes) Ali. (Latch clicks) (Speaking in foreign language)

• [Sebastián As Voiceover] Ali is an Argentinian biologist, and she is the one that takes care of all these animals until they are ready to go to the field to be released. Usually, when the animals arrive, they are very small. They need to be fed with special milk... several times a day. (Gentle music) (Speaking in foreign language) (Laughing) (Speaking in foreign language) When they are big enough to carry a harness with a transmitter... we can release them in the wild. (Tongue slurping) (Sniffing) The giant otter is another species that went completely extinct in Argentina, because of hunting, because we destroyed their habitats through logging. (Keys jingle) (Locks thudding) (Water splashing) It's the first time that our reintroduction project is run for giant otters. But the thing is that there are no otters in captivity in Argentina. (Speaking in foreign language) So Coco is the first male of the project. (Door scraping) He's still in the quarantine. He came from a zoo in Denmark. And once he finishes the quarantine, we will bring him to the Iberá park to a pre-release pen... where a female that also came from Europe is waiting for him. That's Alondra. Coco and Alondra, they don't know each other. So there's a long way for them to learn how to raise the cubs. And once they are ready, we will be able to release them in the wild. (Pole scraping)

With the macaws, we have the most hard work for rehabilitating those animals. Because most of the macaws that we bring to the project, they come from zoos or wildlife rescue centers... (Whistle blows) where they spend many years of their lives in small cages without the possibility of flying. You not only have to change their diet, but we also have to teach them how to fly. (Whistle blows) (Wings flapping) (Macaw chattering) It can be up to one, two years for each individual, in which we train these animals that come from captivity to survive in the wild. (Macaw squawking) (Birds singing) (Chickens clucking) All this park creation process and rewilding process cannot be done without the support of the local communities. (Speaking in foreign language)

• [Sebastián As Voiceover] Pellegrini is a small town by the Iberá park that had an economy that was based mostly in forestry, cattle ranching, and rice fields. Now, since the creation of the provincial reserve, their main economic activity is ecotourism. (Speaking in foreign language)

• People become proud of what they have, and now young people choose to stay in their hometown, and they start to run ecotourism businesses as local guides. (Uplifting music) They use their knowledge, and they become very proud that people come from different parts of the world to see what they know. (Speaking in foreign language) (Water splashing)

• 30 or 40 years ago, we had the idea that the best thing that you can do to preserve a species is not touch anything. (Birds chirping) Now we say that the best thing that you can do, and sometimes the only thing that you can do, is to be very active. (Speaking in foreign language) So far, we've been successful reintroducing some of the species here, like the giant anteater, the pampas deer... But we are just starting with the top predators, like the jaguar, so there's a lot of work to do here. (Crickets chirping) (Speaking in foreign language) (Radio static buzzes) (Speaking in foreign language) (Radio static buzzes)

The jaguar reintroduction project is the most complicated and ambitious project that we have. We built a very big reintroduction center with very huge pens. If you go there, it looks like a Jurassic Park for jaguars. So far, we already have five animals at this reintroduction center that we think are ready to be released. We hope that during this year, we will have the first jaguars living free in Iberá, and that will be like the coronation (laughs) of the rewilding project because it has never been done before. (Gravel crunching) We have to move one of the female jaguars, Mariuá, to the biggest enclosure of the reintroduction center. It's a very big step for the project because it's almost free of our management, so it's like being already living free. (Speaking in foreign language) (Speaking in foreign language) (Gate rattling) (Uplifting music)

• Rewilding is not only about bringing back the keystone species that went extinct. (People chatting) (Ramps thudding) Rewilding is a proactive conservation action that brings joy to your soul. (Laughs) (Gate clanking) (Paws thudding) (Speaking in foreign language) (Water splashing) (Otters squeaking) When I see a group of macaws flying, what you see is all the effort that you put so that these birds can make it. (Whistle blows) (Wings flapping) (Branch thudding) (Whistle blows) It's many months of work with any individual. So it's not just two macaws flying (chuckles), but also a lot of history behind those incredible colors. (Macaw squawking) (Wings flapping)

We don't live in cities. (Woman singing) We live in the place where we are working. We become neighbors of the local people. They are the ones that can tell you the stories about the animals, about the places. (Birds chirping) (Speaking in foreign language) As a team, we are really proud that we are developing a good example, that we don't need to destroy nature to have a better life quality. (Speaking in foreign language) You just feel a great satisfaction that we are fixing, as a species, most of the bad things that we did in the past. (Speaking in foreign language over radio) (Team applauding) (Inspirational music) (Speaking in foreign language)

What I always think is, if we can reintroduce jaguars in a place that they went extinct... what else we cannot do? I think, (laughs) it's like we can do everything. (Speaking in foreign language) (Laughing) (Melodic guitar music) (Singing in foreign language)