Paper short abstract:

The interaction between the knowledge practices of conservation biologists and those of cowboys and hunters at the brazilian Pantanal is the starting point for a reflection on the seeks for new perspectives on socioecological issues involved on the jaguar's conservationist network.

Paper long abstract:

The first theme addressed in this proposition refers to the contrasts and possible compositions between the knowledge practices of conservation biologists and those of the Pantanal cowboys and hunters. In this case, it is an example that allows some considerations about the complex relations between scientific and traditional knowledge, questioning the lines of continuity and the controverses that arise from such a meeting. The second theme concerns the individual trajectories of particular agents, or actors, in biological field studies. It is a question of how the singular and sometimes unusual actions of those actors - jaguars and humans - are incorporated into the practices and knowledge (scientific or not) connected with the study of the behavior of the species. These two themes - namely, scientific versus traditional knowledge and particular trajectories within the study of animal behavior - allows a reflection on the conservationist network of the jaguar using elements that are usually hidden or invisible in the processes of circulation of the facts described herein, opening new perspectives to the socioecological issues that the conservationist network in question is capable of capturing.