Instantaneous energetics of puma kills reveal advantage of felid sneak attacks

Abstract

Pumas (Puma concolor) live in diverse, often rugged, complex habitats. The energy they expend for hunting must account for this complexity but is difficult to measure for this and other large, cryptic carnivores. We developed and deployed a physiological SMART (species movement, acceleration, and radio tracking) collar that used accelerometry to continuously monitor energetics, movements, and behavior of free-ranging pumas. This felid species displayed marked individuality in predatory activities, ranging from low-cost sit-and-wait behaviors to constant movements with energetic costs averaging 2.3 times those predicted for running mammals. Pumas reduce these costs by remaining cryptic and precisely matching maximum pouncing force (overall dynamic body acceleration = 5.3 to 16.1g) to prey size. Such instantaneous energetics help to explain why most felids stalk and pounce, and their analysis represents a powerful approach for accurately forecasting resource demands required for survival by large, mobile predators.

Key Questions in Marine Megafauna Movement Ecology

“…For example, the use of movement data to inform conservation also applies to many terrestrial vertebrates [66,67]; understanding how animals orientate and navigate is relevant to movements of jellyfish, flying insects and birds [68,69]; examination of how social interactions impact movement is applicable to studies of pigeons [70]; and assessing how the physical environment shapes movement is relevant to studies of a range of terrestrial herbivores [71]. As such our questions likely provide a solid roadmap for the general field of animal biotelemetry.…”

Short-term effects of tagging on activity and movement patterns of Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber)

“…These tags can be equipped with a suite of sensors related to animal state, such as heart beat frequency and/or body temperature (Butler et al 2004;Evans et al 2016;Friebe et al 2014), but may also document movement patterns (Rhodes et al 2005;Zimmermann et al 2007), general activity, behaviour and proxies for energy expenditure (Shepard et al 2008;. Such tags can be used under challenging environmental conditions, including aquatic (Gleiss et al 2011;Thorrold et al 2014) and terrestrial habitats (Steyaert et al 2014;Williams et al 2014), as well as on species that spend a considerable amount of their time in air (Nathan et al 2012;Spiegel et al 2015). The general premise is that such tags allow free-living animals to be studied with Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10344-016-1051-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.…”

Cell-cycle progress in obligate predatory bacteria is dependent upon sequential sensing of prey recognition and prey quality cues

“…An important aspect of predatory interactions is prey choice. Prey choice can have important consequences for the predator, because it defines how much energy is spent in obtaining prey (8,9). Thus, the predator first may discriminate between prey and nonprey and then determine the nutritional value of the prey (10).…”