Puma (Puma concolor) predation on tapir (Tapirus terrestris)

Abstract

The process of forest fragmentation affects mostly top predators, which are more prone to first disappear. Pumas, Puma concolor, are known to have a generalist diet that includes a wide variety of wild and domestic prey species. The capacity of adapting their diet to consuming prey in anthropogenic habitats may be the reason for this species' success in incorporating anthropogenic areas with different levels of fragmentation as part of its habitat. Here we report a case of puma consumption of a large wild prey species, the tapir, Tapirus terrestris. From March 2012 to October 2013 we collected 85 puma's scats opportunistically inside fragments of the Atlantic Forest in the Parana state, Brazil. In one of the scats we found hairs and some hooves of a tapir, as well as puma hairs. We propose two hypotheses that may explain the occurrence of tapir in a pumás scat: (1) an event of scavenging or (2) an event of predation on a juvenile tapir. The most likely explanation for this event may be the predation of a juvenile in response to a possible abundant presence of tapirs in the study area. This event adds to our understanding of the great plasticity of this species to adapt to an altered landscape. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a puma scavenging or predation event on a tapir.

Habitat diversity influences puma Puma concolor diet in the Chihuahuan Desert

“…Pumas prey opportunistically on the most abundant and assailable species across their distribution range (Anderson 1983, Logan andSweanor 2001), and consume a variety of prey species ranging in size from beetles (likely in association with larger prey items; Chrysomelidae spp., Cashman et al 1992) and rodents (Cunningham et al 1999) in Arizona, to feral horses Equus caballus and moose Alces alces (Knopff et al 2009, Bacon et al 2011 in Alberta, Canada. In South America, puma commonly prey on guanaco Lama guanicoe, vicuna Vicugna vicugna, European hare Lepus europaeus, lesser rhea Pterocnemia pennata, tapir Tapirus terrestris and pudu Pudu pudu (Iriarte et al 1991, Franklin et al 1999, Hernandez-Guzman et al 2011, Azevedo et al 2016, Gelin et al 2017. In Central America, the most common prey are the white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, collared peccary Pecari tajacu, coatimundi Nasua narica, nine-banded armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus, and various lagomorph species (Lepus spp., Sylvilagus audubonii; Nunez et al 2000, de la Torre and de la Riva 2009).…”

Hair as a tool for identification of predators and prey: a study based on scats of jaguars (Panthera onca) and pumas (Puma concolor)

“…The presence of tapir hairs in one of the puma samples was important because of the uniqueness of this finding in puma´s diet. In places where pumas and tapir live in sympatry, predation of tapir by pumas is a rare event (Azevedo et al 2016). Failure to identify tapirs by medullary patterns may be related to the type of hair in the sample.…”