Dietary similarity among jaguars (Panthera onca) in a high-density population

Abstract

Prey remains found in carnivore scats provide generalised dietary profiles of sampled populations. The profile may be biased if individual diets differ and some individuals are over- or under-represented in the sample. Quantifying individual contributions allows us to recognise these potential biases and better interpret generalised profiles. Knowing the dietary differences or similarity between individuals can help us to understand selection pressures and identify drivers of distribution and abundance. Using the results of individual faecal genotyping, we re-interpreted our previously-published generalised dietary profile of an elusive, neotropical felid, the jaguar (Panthera onca; Foster et al. (2010)). We quantified individual sample sizes, assessed whether the generalised profile was influenced by the inclusion of scats originating from the same individual and prey carcass (pseudo-replication), and quantified the distribution of prey species among individuals. From an original sample of 322 jaguar scats from a high-density jaguar population in Belize, we identified 206 prey items (individual prey animals) in 176 independent scats representing 32 jaguars (26 males, 3 females, 3 unknown sex). The influence of pseudo-replication in the original dietary profile was minimal. The majority of scats (94%) came from male jaguars. Eight males accounted for two-thirds of the prey items, while 24 jaguars each contributed <5% of the prey items. With few exceptions, the jaguars followed the same broad diet, a 2:1:1 ratio of nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus noveminctus), other vertebrates ≤10kg, and ungulates, primarily peccaries (Tayassu pecari and Pecari tajacu). We noted prey switching between wild and domestic ungulates for individuals spanning protected forests and farmland. This first scat-based study exploring individual variation in jaguar diet highlights the importance of armadillos and peccaries for male jaguars in Belize, the need for research on their roles in supporting high-density jaguar populations, and the need for more data on female diet from across the jaguar range.