Jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) diets in Quintana Roo, Mexico

Abstract

Jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) diets in Quintana Roo, Mexico. A study was carried out for two years in Northwest Quintana Roo, México, using scat analysis to determine the diet and prey preferences of pumas and jaguars. Cat species and gender were determined using molecular techniques (rapid classificatory protocol: polymerise chain reaction, RCP-PCR), and prey abundance was estimated from camera trapping. The scats contained remains from 16 wild mammal species, but there was no evidence of livestock or other taxa. The diet breadths of jaguar (0.32) and puma (0.29) indicated a high degree of prey specialization, which combined with their dietary overlap (Pianka index 0.77) suggested competition between them. However, both felids showed a preference for red brocket deer Mazama temama, and frequently consumed collared peccaries Pecari tajacu. The importance of such large ungulates in the felids' diets is similar to the expected patterns of wild meat consumption in rural areas of the Northern Yucatan Peninsula. Therefore, future conservation management plan initiatives should involve local rural communities in the management of sustainable hunting, considering these ungulates are also the felid prey species.

Conservation implications for jaguars and other neotropical mammals using highway underpasses

“…WU were designed in a similar fashion to those used by the species in other places [i.e., 40 ]. It is noteworthy that no puma records where attained during this particular survey despite being present in the area [ 76 ]. However, during monitoring conducted by the consultancy (SEGA S.A. de C.V.), they recorded two puma crossings while monitoring 27 WU (all except for one in a wetland).…”

“…While WU have proven useful for maintaining connectivity between the jaguar population, they do not seem to be so significant in maintaining connectivity between the populations of their main prey [ 76 , 88 – 89 ], except for big rodents (pacas and agoutis). An important consideration with large herbivores in their role as prey is that they need to avoid predators when using crossing structures.…”

“…Structures that are more open than confined work better for these species [ 79 ]. Ungulates (white tailed deer, brocket deer and peccary) that represent big prey for jaguars in the area [ 76 ] may require a wider span than the one available in the constructed underpasses (only 3m). So far only a couple of young white tail deer males have used the WU, and although peccaries have been reported using drainage as crossing structures they have not used the ones we monitored.…”

SPECIES: A platform for the exploration of ecological data

“…Considering the potential importance of predator-prey interactions between P. onca and other mammals, one would expect that the availability of food resources, and any corresponding change, should be an important factor in determining its range. Reviewing the species in the top decile we note that, of 18 confirmed jaguar preys distributed in Mexico (Aranda, 1994; Ávila-Nájera, Palomares, Chávez, Tigar, & Mendoza, 2018;Chávez, Ceballos, & Amín, 2007), 15 are in the top decile, while 12 (80% of preys) are in the top 20 highest ranked species by . In summary, a model that includes different covariate types not only leads to more accurate prediction models, but also leads to a much fuller and more comprehensive understanding of the species niche.…”

Coexistence of jaguars (Panthera onca) and pumas (Puma concolor) in a tropical forest in south–eastern Mexico

“…Predators select habitats as a result of the complex interactions between factors including their population density and the presence of other predators, as well as the abundance and diversity of prey and the level of human activity (Hojnowski et al, 2012;Foster et al, 2014). In EER, slight differences in peak activity time, and dietary preferences (Ávila-Nájera et al, 2018a(Ávila-Nájera et al, , 2018b facilitate the coexistence of two large predators despite the high overlap in their resource use. Studies in other ecosystems have also reported differential habitat use by coexisiting predators (Jonson et al, 1980;Davis et al, 2010;Sollmann et al, 2012) along with a positive dependence upon each other (Gutierrez-González and López-González, 2017).…”