The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Food habits of sympatric jaguars and pumas across a gradient of human disturbance

Food habits of sympatric jaguars and pumas across a gradient of human disturbance
Food habits of sympatric jaguars and pumas across a gradient of human disturbance
Jaguars Panthera onca coexist with pumas Puma concolor across their entire range. In areas where they occur together their coexistence may be facilitated by differences in diet. This study compared food habits of jaguars and pumas in Belize, Central America, across a protected lowland rainforest and the neighbouring human-influenced landscape. Diets were determined from 362 jaguar scats and 135 puma scats, identified by genetic analysis. In the protected forest, dietary breadths were low for jaguars and pumas and showed little overlap. In this habitat each relied heavily on a single medium-sized (5–10 kg) prey species: armadillos Dasypus novemcinctus for jaguars, and pacas Agouti paca for pumas. Both cats also took larger prey (>10 kg), mainly white-lipped peccaries Tayassu pecari by jaguars and red brocket deer Mazama americana by pumas. In unprotected fragmented lands, jaguar scats rarely contained large wild prey species; rather, a diet of relatively small wild prey was supplemented with larger domestic species. Pumas did not take domestic species and were scarce outside the protected forest, possibly indicating competition with humans for pacas and deer, which are also prized game species in the region. This study is the largest analysis to date of sympatric jaguar and puma diets in both forest and farmland. We suggest that jaguar predation on cattle may be reduced by ensuring that game hunting is sustainable and potentially by augmenting forests within the human matrix with large wild ungulates. The supplementation could benefit both of the cat species, and the local game hunting economy.
0952-8369
309-318
Foster, R.J.
4c934e32-df32-466d-946f-db30771069bb
Harmsen, B.J.
c84e0703-d49d-4b09-980a-423b09fd5536
Valdes, B.
41564ec2-2394-4fdf-aaf4-26f18c3e1e42
Pomilla, C.
797e43bc-9b52-434a-9d4c-459a8573a6b7
Doncaster, C. P.
0eff2f42-fa0a-4e35-b6ac-475ad3482047
Foster, R.J.
4c934e32-df32-466d-946f-db30771069bb
Harmsen, B.J.
c84e0703-d49d-4b09-980a-423b09fd5536
Valdes, B.
41564ec2-2394-4fdf-aaf4-26f18c3e1e42
Pomilla, C.
797e43bc-9b52-434a-9d4c-459a8573a6b7
Doncaster, C. P.
0eff2f42-fa0a-4e35-b6ac-475ad3482047

Foster, R.J., Harmsen, B.J., Valdes, B., Pomilla, C. and Doncaster, C. P. (2010) Food habits of sympatric jaguars and pumas across a gradient of human disturbance. Journal of Zoology, 280 (3), 309-318. (doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00663.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Jaguars Panthera onca coexist with pumas Puma concolor across their entire range. In areas where they occur together their coexistence may be facilitated by differences in diet. This study compared food habits of jaguars and pumas in Belize, Central America, across a protected lowland rainforest and the neighbouring human-influenced landscape. Diets were determined from 362 jaguar scats and 135 puma scats, identified by genetic analysis. In the protected forest, dietary breadths were low for jaguars and pumas and showed little overlap. In this habitat each relied heavily on a single medium-sized (5–10 kg) prey species: armadillos Dasypus novemcinctus for jaguars, and pacas Agouti paca for pumas. Both cats also took larger prey (>10 kg), mainly white-lipped peccaries Tayassu pecari by jaguars and red brocket deer Mazama americana by pumas. In unprotected fragmented lands, jaguar scats rarely contained large wild prey species; rather, a diet of relatively small wild prey was supplemented with larger domestic species. Pumas did not take domestic species and were scarce outside the protected forest, possibly indicating competition with humans for pacas and deer, which are also prized game species in the region. This study is the largest analysis to date of sympatric jaguar and puma diets in both forest and farmland. We suggest that jaguar predation on cattle may be reduced by ensuring that game hunting is sustainable and potentially by augmenting forests within the human matrix with large wild ungulates. The supplementation could benefit both of the cat species, and the local game hunting economy.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2010

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 142543
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/142543
ISSN: 0952-8369
PURE UUID: 4fb79431-c8e2-4918-ab20-4881b50f5189
ORCID for C. P. Doncaster: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9406-0693

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 31 Mar 2010 15:42
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:38

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: R.J. Foster
Author: B.J. Harmsen
Author: B. Valdes
Author: C. Pomilla
Author: C. P. Doncaster ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×