The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland. It spreads across Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay, with most of its area in Brazil's Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul states.
The name comes from Portuguese and Spanish words related to swamp or wetland. The region is a vast mosaic of flooded grasslands, forests, rivers, lakes, and savannas rather than one uniform swamp. During the rainy season, roughly 80% of its floodplain may be submerged, creating breeding and feeding grounds for fish, birds, caimans, capybaras, giant anteaters, and jaguars.
A common mix-up is the Everglades, which is a famous tropical wetland but far smaller. The Okavango Delta is also immense and seasonally flooded, yet it lies in Botswana and is not the world's largest tropical wetland. The Pantanal is additionally recognized as the world's largest flooded grassland system.