Can Scat Analysis Describe the Feeding Habits of Big Cats? A Case Study with Jaguars (Panthera onca) in Southern Pantanal, Brazil.

Miriam L L Perilli,Sandra M C Cavalcanti,Flávio H G Rodrigues,Fernando Lima

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0151814

Abstract

Large cats feeding habits have been studied through two main methods: scat analysis and the carcasses of prey killed by monitored animals. From November 2001 to April 2004, we studied jaguar predation patterns using GPS telemetry location clusters on a cattle ranch in southern Pantanal. During this period, we recorded 431 carcasses of animals preyed upon by monitored jaguars. Concurrently, we collected 125 jaguar scats opportunistically. We compared the frequencies of prey found through each method. We also compared the prey communities using Bray-Curtis similarity coefficient. These comparisons allowed us to evaluate the use of scat analysis as a means to describe jaguar feeding habits. Both approaches identified prey communities with high similarity (Bray-Curtis coefficient > 70). According to either method, jaguars consume three main prey: cattle (Bos taurus), caiman (Caiman yacare) and peccaries (Tayassu pecari and Pecari tajacu). The two methods did not differ in the frequency of the three main prey over dry and wet seasons or years sampled. Our results show that scat analysis is effective and capable of describing jaguar feeding habits.

Highlights

The ecological importance of large mammalian carnivores such as the jaguar (Panthera onca) is recognized, as even a few individuals can exert strong top-down control on prey populations and smaller predators [1,2,3]
We found a total of 431 kill at global positioning system (GPS) location clusters and, concurrently, we identified 153 prey items in 125 jaguar scat samples
The prey community detected in jaguar diet did not differ when analyzed using either method, GPS location clusters or scat analysis

Summary

Introduction

The ecological importance of large mammalian carnivores such as the jaguar (Panthera onca) is recognized, as even a few individuals can exert strong top-down control on prey populations and smaller predators [1,2,3]. These 'apex predators’ occupy an elevated position on the PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0151814. Can Scat Analysis Describe Jaguars Feeding Habits?. Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Methods

Results

Conclusion