Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 August 2021 | 13(9): 19358–19362
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7484.13.9.19358-19362
#7484 | Received 01 June 2021 | Final
received 02 August 2021 | Finally accepted 10 August 2021
Jaguar Panthera
onca (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mammalia: Carnivora:
Felidae) presumably feeding on Flathead Catfish Pylodictis
olivaris (Rafinesque, 1818) (Actinopterygii: Siluriformes: Ictaluridae) at Aros and Yaqui rivers, Sonora, Mexico
Juan Pablo Gallo-Reynoso
Centro de Investigación
en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C. Carretera al
Varadero Nacional km 6.6, Col. Las Playitas, Guaymas, Sonora, C.P. 85480, Mexico.
jpgallo@ciad.mx
Abstract: Despite the abundant literature
on the feeding preferences of the Jaguar Panthera
onca throughout its range in America, few studies
report fish consumed as prey by Jaguars. This paper reports two accounts of
Jaguars presumably feeding on the introduced Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris at
the Aros and Yaqui rivers in Sonora, northwestern Mexico.
Keywords: Diet, feeding preferences, fish
remains, northwestern Mexico.
Editor: Angie Appel, Wild Cat Network,
Bad Marienberg, Germany. Date
of publication: 26 August 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Gallo-Reynoso, J.P. (2021). Jaguar Panthera
onca (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mammalia: Carnivora:
Felidae) presumably feeding on Flathead Catfish Pylodictis
olivaris (Rafinesque, 1818) (Actinopterygii: Siluriformes: Ictaluridae) at Aros and Yaqui rivers, Sonora, Mexico. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(9): 19358–19362. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7484.13.9.19358-19362
Copyright: © Gallo-Reynoso 2021. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: The Nature Conservancy,
Arizona, U.S.
Competing interests: The author
declares no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The author wishes to thank S.
Anderson, my companion in the canoe. Thanks also to P. Warren, R. Mesta, S.
Wilson, D. Gori, Judy & Jim Hohman, and H. Medina from CIDESON, with whom
we navigated downstream the Yaqui river from Granados to ‘Panga-Badesi’
for monitoring birds, Bald Eagles, and Neotropical Otters. Thanks to A. Varela,
who critically reviewed the fish accounts of the Bavispe-Yaqui
river. Thanks to R. Mesta and M.E. Sánchez-Salazar for editing the English
manuscript. Funds for the expedition were given by The Nature Conservancy,
Arizona. Thanks to three anonymous reviewers and Angie Appel whose comments
helped to improve the manuscript.
The Jaguar Panthera
onca is known to forage on over 85 prey species (Weckel et al. 2006), mainly on a large variety of mammals,
birds, reptiles, and fish (Gudger 1946; Emmons 1987;
Aranda & Sánchez-Cordero 1996; Polisar 2000; Garla et al. 2001; Polisar et al.
2003; Weckel et al. 2006; Azevedo & Murray 2007; Castañeda et al. 2013; Hayward et al. 2016). It preys on
aquatic and semi-aquatic fauna, such as Caiman species in Brazil (Da
Silveira et al. 2010), Morelet’s Crocodile Crocodilus moreletti
in Calakmul, Mexico (Aranda & Sánchez-Cordero
1996; Pérez-Flores 2018), large marine turtles such as Chelonia
mydas, Dermochelys
coriacea, Eretmochelys
imbricata, and Caretta
caretta throughout America (Arroyo-Arce & Salom-Pérez 2014; Fonseca et al. 2020), Lepidochelys
olivacea and C. mydas
on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica (Carrillo et al. 1994; Alfaro et al. 2016;
Fonseca et al. 2020). One individual was observed scavenging on a dolphin
carcass in Honduras (Castañeda et al. 2013). Other
semi-aquatic prey consumed by Jaguars in the Amazon river basin are the
Capybara Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris
(Schaller & Vasconcelos 1978; Weckel et al. 2006;
Da Silveira et al. 2010) and fauna associated with water bodies like the
Baird’s Tapir Tapirus bairdii
in the Calakmul region (Pérez-Flores et al. 2020).
Jaguars also hunt Giant Otters Pteronura brasiliensis in Guyana and Brazil (Shackley
1998; Ramalheira et al. 2015). Regarding fish,
Jaguars feed on piranha Serra salmus in Alto
Pantanal, Brazil (Da Silveira et al. 2010). Fish make 5% of Jaguar prey at Río
Manu, Parque Nacional Manu in Peru (Emmons 1987). The Jaguar diet comprises 21
fish species at Llanos Altos, Venezuela (Polisar
2000). Although the Jaguar is adapted to exploit rivers, lagoons, and coastal
areas where large prey species are available, it is also important to record
fish as a key component of the Jaguar’s diet. No published accounts of Jaguars
preying on fish in Mexico are currently available.
The Jaguar is listed as an
endangered species in Mexico (NOM-059-ECOL-2010) and as Near Threatened in the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Quigley et al. 2017). This felid species
needs close and regular monitoring in key regions of the country to ascertain
its status. The presence of Jaguars in the state of Sonora is highly important
for representing the northernmost population of this large felid in Mexico and
Latin America (López-González & Brown 2002; Rosas-Rosas & Bender 2012).
Currently, Jaguar populations in northern Mexico have remained stable since
large land areas are dedicated to preservation in several ranches. An example
is the Northern Jaguar Project, which includes two ranches, Los Pavos and Zetasora, totalling
35,000ha. Other 17 nearby ranches participate in voluntary projects such as the
‘Living with cats’ initiative, comprising about 35,600 ha to support Jaguar
conservation in this area of Sonora. In southern Sonora, the Monte Mojino Reserve dedicates 7,370 ha to Jaguar conservation (Blust 2019). Multiple camera traps record large amounts of
information on individual Jaguars in these large areas of Sonora, which has led
to the establishment of a Jaguar corridor in interior areas of Sonora, far from
the arid landscapes of the Sonoran Desert (Rosas-Rosas & Bender 2012).
Here I describe two incidents of
fish presumably caught by Jaguars at the Aros and
Yaqui rivers in central Sonora, observed while monitoring Bald Eagles Haliaeetus leucocephalus
and Neotropical Otters Lontra longicaudis.
Observations
On 7 May 1995, my companion and I
were surveying the confluence area of the Bavispe and
Aros rivers that make the Yaqui river in northwestern Mexico (Figure 1). We travelled upstream in a
canoe on the Aros river while searching the
riverbanks for Neotropical Otter tracks and latrines, of which we found
several. We noticed large tracks on the northern riverbank 3 km upstream that
made us approach the shore, assuming they were of a Mountain Lion Puma concolor. Instead, the tracks observed resembled tracks
of a Jaguar according to the field guide of animal tracks by Aranda-Sánchez
(1981). These tracks, which seemed to be about a week old, showed that the
individual had moved upstream along the riverbank. We followed the Jaguar
tracks and lost them in a rocky area facing a large and deep pool, where the
cat seemingly climbed. We found a Neotropical Otter latrine above those rocks
and collected spraints. The otter tracks continued from the rocks to the
riverbank, and we followed them to behind a rock. There, we again found the
week-old Jaguar tracks coming from the water. We followed the tracks further up
and found the almost entirely devoured carcass of a Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris
measuring about 1 m in length, which probably weighed 10 kg (Sergio Avila pers.
comm. 11 October 2019) (Image 1). Avila had previously weighed one of these
catfish individuals at the Aros river and recorded 10
kg. The inspection of both these large fish remains and the Jaguar tracks made
us think that the catfish was taken out of the water and dragged to the sandy
riverbank between tall vegetation composed of Jarilla
Baccharis salicifolia,
where it was eaten the previous week. The large size and estimated weight of
the fish ruled out the possibility that a Neotropical Otter had captured and
dragged it out of the water this far. The size of the catfish head and remains
suggest it was a significantly heavy fish for an otter to take out of the
water, although large fish have been recorded to be preyed upon by Neotropical
Otters. There were no otter tracks around the carcass, but only those of the
Jaguar and some tracks of a Coyote Canis latrans. From the inspection of the carcass, we
determined that the fish was probably scavenged by the Coyote, as several bones
were crushed and scattered. Tracks of Black Vulture Coragyps
attratus and White-tailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus were also observed in
the area.
Several hours later, after
leaving our camp at the confluence of the Bavispe and
Aros rivers to continue our monitoring of Bald Eagles
and Neotropical Otters, we noticed a freshly killed partially eaten catfish
some 7 km downstream, about 10 km away from the first location (Figure 1). It
was submerged in a shallow area less than 50 cm deep in the middle of the Yaqui
river. The fish was probably killed in this shallow and wide area of the river,
but was not taken out of the water by the predator. We lifted it into the canoe
for identification. It was a large Flathead Catfish, olive dorsally, yellowish
ventrally, about the same size as the one previously found scavenged at the Aros river. We noticed several gashes on the body that
appeared to have been made by raptor claws. Initially, we thought that it had
been caught by a Bald Eagle H. leucocephalus
that nested nearby, but it was not taken out of the water. We also determined
that the probability of this catfish individual being killed by a Neotropical
Otter was low because the marks on its body were longer, and the slashes made
by claws were more extended than would be expected from an otter. Upon a
detailed inspection, we determined that the large and heavy fish probably
weighed over 10 kg and was slashed by large paws on both flanks, the gills, and
other parts of the body. The catfish suffered deep wounds on its head from
large and widely separate incisors and was crushed by a powerful bite, most
likely inflicted by a Jaguar. The bite certainly killed the catfish. We left
the fish remains in the same spot, then moved to the western riverbank, where
we found a set of fresh Jaguar tracks with old White-tailed Deer tracks nearby.
Discussion
These two observations of large
Flathead Catfish individuals presumably killed and eaten by Jaguars in two
different rivers suggest that either a single or two different Jaguars roaming
in the area preyed on these large introduced catfish, which are an available
food resource (Campoy-Favela et al. 1989; Leibfried 1991; Varela-Romero et al. 2011). Schaller &
Vasconcelos (1978) reported that Jaguars leave large portions of the prey
uneaten when perturbed or satiated. The Flathead Catfish is an unexpected food
source for Jaguars in this part of Sonora, an area where Jaguars have been
documented to prey on White-tailed Deer, hares Lepus, rabbits Sylvilagus audubonii,
Collared Peccary Pecari tajacu,
White-nosed Coati Nasua narica,
cattle and other smaller prey (Rosas-Rosas et al. 2008) locally available, as
shown by the White-tailed Deer tracks. On the other hand, Neotropical Otters
eat their prey near the edge of the water, mostly on rocky substrates (Gallo 1996).
The analyses of spraints collected at the same area showed that they feed on a
variety of fish species in these two rivers, which are also available as prey
for Jaguars. Ninety percent of the otter’s diet is composed of introduced fish,
of which five are dominant: Channel Catfish Ictalurus
punctatus, Yellow Catfish Ameiurus melas, Largemouth Bass Micropterus
salmoides, Flathead Catfish, and Tilapia Oreochromis
(Gallo 1996). These large fish are likely preyed on by Jaguars as well. For
comparison, the Neotropical Otter also feeds on Flathead Catfish, but the bone
remains found in otter spraints were smaller than the sizes of the individual
fish presumably preyed upon by Jaguars. These felids are good swimmers capable
of crossing large expanses of water; they swim across rivers and lagoons to
gain access to places at the other margin of these water bodies searching for
food (Da Silveira et al. 2010). This behaviour was observed in a coastal lagoon
in Campeche, where Jaguars swam to an island more than 200 m away from the bank
(Gallo-Reynoso 2012). At Chichankanab lagoon in
Quintana Roo, we have observed large tracks of a
Jaguar emerging from the water to a muddy riverbank following the tracks of a
tapir after having swum across the lagoon, which harbours a high density of Morelet’s Crocodiles (Gallo-Reynoso and Ortega-Padilla,
pers. obs. 17 October 2018). Knowing that Jaguars can capture large prey from
aquatic habitats, there is no doubt that they can catch large fish such as the
Flathead Catfish and presumably consume them as prey.
For
figure & image - - click here
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