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.
摘要:
已经通过两种主要方法研究了大型猫的喂养习惯:粪便分析和被监测动物杀死的猎物尸体。从2001年11月到2004年4月,我们在潘塔纳尔南部的一个牧场上使用GPS遥测位置群集研究了美洲虎的捕食模式。在此期间,我们记录了被监测的美洲虎捕食的动物的431具尸体。同时,我们机会主义地收集了125个美洲虎战斗机。我们比较了通过每种方法发现的猎物的频率。我们还使用Bray-Curtis相似系数比较了猎物群落。这些比较使我们能够评估使用scat分析来描述美洲虎的喂养习惯。两种方法都确定了具有高度相似性的猎物群落(Bray-Curtis系数>70)。根据两种方法,美洲虎消耗三种主要猎物:牛(Bostaurus),caiman(Caimanyacare)和peccaries(Tayassupecari和Pecaritajacu)。两种方法在旱季和雨季或采样年份中三种主要猎物的频率没有差异。我们的结果表明,scat分析是有效的,并且能够描述美洲虎的喂养习惯。