Antagonistic interactions between predator and prey: mobbing of jaguars ( Panthera onca ) by white-lipped peccaries ( Ta
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Antagonistic interactions between predator and prey: mobbing of jaguars (Panthera onca) by white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) Lilian E. Rampim 1
&
Leonardo R. Sartorello 1
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Carlos E. Fragoso 1
&
Mario Haberfeld 1
&
Allison L. Devlin 2,3,4
Received: 12 November 2019 / Revised: 12 December 2019 / Accepted: 19 December 2019 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Ambush predators rely on stealth to successfully secure prey. Mobbing is a rarely observed anti-predation strategy used by groupliving prey species whereby several individuals distract or harass a predator until it either ends the pursuit or leaves the area. Herein, we present three unique cases of white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) mobbing jaguars (Panthera onca) in the wild. White-lipped peccaries and jaguars co-occur within the study area, a large-scale ecotourism and working cattle ranch in the Brazilian Pantanal. Two cases of mobbing were recorded by video camera trap during routine surveys, and a third case was directly observed by one of the authors during telemetry triangulation of a GPS-collared individual jaguar. Our observations provide direct empirical evidence of antagonistic behavioral interactions between jaguars and white-lipped peccaries that have previously been limited to anecdotes within academic literature. We discuss the implications of this behavioral interaction for the proximate and ultimate fitness of both predator and prey. Keywords Mobbing . Pantanal . Panthera onca . Predator . Prey . Tayassu pecari
Ambush predators rely on stealth and cover to successfully procure prey. In group-living prey species, predator recognition and anti-predation behaviors provide direct advantages for individual and group survival (Curio et al. 1978). Commonly observed pursuit-deterrence behaviors include alarm calls, vigilance, and defensive guarding of young (Lima and Dill 1990; White and Berger 2001; Ferrari et al. 2008). Mobbing occurs when individuals or members of a Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-020-00335-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Allison L. Devlin [email protected] 1
Associação Onçafari, R. Ferreira de Araújo, 221/225-Cj.14, São Paulo, SP 05428-000, Brazil
2
Panthera, 8 West 40th Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10018, USA
3
Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
4
Wildlife Biology Program, W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, NS 205, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
group physically attack or harass a predator until it is distracted enough to end a pursuit or leave the area (Curio 1978; Curio et al. 1978; Dugatkin and Godin 1992). Prior studies have reported anti-predator and mobbing behaviors by primates (Iwamoto et al. 1996; Barros et al. 2002; Coss et al. 2005; Lloyd et al. 2006; Mourthé 2011; Tórrez et al. 2012; Wilcox et al. 2016), birds (Azevedo an
