See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/330162923

Chelonian Predation by Jaguars (Panthera onca)

Article  in  Chelonian Conservation and Biology · December 2018

DOI: 10.2744/CCB-1325.1

CITATIONS READS
0 735

3 authors:

Elizangela Brito Everton Miranda

42 PUBLICATIONS   148 CITATIONS   
The Peregrine Fund
30 PUBLICATIONS   228 CITATIONS   
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE

Fernando Rodrigo Tortato

Panthera
82 PUBLICATIONS   574 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Dinâmica de populações e metapopulações de Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (Testudines: Chelidae) na bacia do Paraguai, Brasil View project

Pantanal Jaguar Project - Panthera Brasil View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Elizangela Brito on 25 February 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 NOTES
Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 2018, 17(2): 280–283
Ó 2018 Chelonian Research Foundation
Chelonian Predation by Jaguars
(Panthera onca)
ELIZÂNGELA SILVA BRITO1,*,
EVERTON MIRANDA2,3, AND
FERNANDO RODRIGO TORTATO3,4
1
Herpetology Laboratory, Biodiversity Centre, Institute of
Biosciences, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Av. Fernando
Correa da Costa, 2367, 78060-900, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil
[eliz.chelidae@gmail.com];
2
IUCN/SSC Boa and Python Specialist Group, Buenos Aires,
Argentina;
3
Postgraduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation,
Federal University of Mato Grosso, Av. Fernando Correa da Costa,
2367, 78060-900, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil
[mirandaebp@gmail.com];
4
Panthera, 8 West 40th Street, 18th Floor, New York, New York
10018 USA [ftortato@panthera.org]
*Corresponding author
ABSTRACT. – We present a new record of freshwater
turtle predation by the jaguar, Panthera onca, in
addition to a current review of chelonian predation by
this feline. In total, 16 species of chelonians were
predated by jaguars: 3 were terrestrial, 8 freshwater,
and 5 marine. Our review revealed that jaguars prey
on a large number of chelonians, including heavily
armored species, such as the Chelonoidis tortoises, and
also small freshwater species.
Predation is acknowledged as one of the main forces
of natural selection. It is involved in the regulation of a
diverse range of evolutionary and ecological processes,
including Cambrian diversity explosion (Bengtson 2002),
top-down population regulation (Orihuela et al. 2014),
landscape-level soil nutrient distribution (Bump et al.
2009), habitat use of a variety of prey species (Preisser et
al. 2005), and natural selection itself (Genovart et al.
2010). Being such a strong selective force, predation has
been responsible for a variety of adaptations in prey
species. A large and continually growing body of research
has focused on this subject (Greene 1988; Caro 2005), and
a general classification of antipredator defenses separates
prey strategies into 2 main classes (Brodie et al. 1991):
predation avoidance by flight, being constantly vigilant
and morphologically adapted to escape via speed (passer-
ines, most monkeys, iguanids), and prey that is able to
confront (peccaries, boars, skunks) or physically resist
predators (armadillos, tortoises).
Among the most remarkable adaptations of physical
resistance to predation are the shells developed by
chelonians. Formed by the fusion of vertebras, ribs, and
sternal bones, this unique development has been the basis
AND FIELD REPORTS
of the group’s evolutionary success. Living chelonians can
be found in nearly every major ecosystem on Earth, except
those of the polar regions (Ernst and Barbour 1989). The
shell is often complemented by spiny scutes on the legs
and has the ability to house the retracted legs and head.
Predators have developed a variety of strategies to
overcome this suite of defensive measures, including
member amputation (Heithaus et al. 2008), dropping
animals from the air or cliffs (Watson 2010), and direct
shell destruction (Salera-Junior et al. 2009). Despite this,
adults of most chelonian species suffer low mortality
(Iverson 1991). However, Panthera onca (jaguar) is well
known for preying on chelonia (Da Silveira et al. 2010).
Their heads show several characteristics relating to
durophagy, including thick canines and large masseter
and temporal muscles (Seymour 1989) and one of the
strongest bites relative to body size in the genus Panthera
(Christiansen and Adolfssen 2005).
Here we review chelonian species preyed on by
jaguars in order to provide to other researchers authors
with a current, single-source review of chelonian predation
by jaguars. We also synthesize information on body size
and reproductive condition of chelonia that are preyed on
by jaguars. In addition, we report the first record of
predation on Acanthochelys macrocephala by jaguar.
A search of the literature concerning interactions
between jaguars and turtles was performed using Google
Scholar. We used the key words jaguar, P. onca, and onça-
pintada combined with diet, feeding habits, food habits,
hábitos alimentarios, and dieta. This allowed us to find
published and unpublished information in English,
Portuguese, and Spanish.
In September 2014, we found a dead adult individual
of A. macrocephala on the Transpantaneira Park Road (lat
17816 0 47 00 S, long 56852 0 16 00 W, WGS84), located within
the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands of the Paraguay River
basin. Acanthochelys macrocephala is a medium-sized
freshwater turtle that lives in marshes, wetland areas,
shallow bays, and brackish lagoons (Rhodin et al. 2009).
The individual was found on dry land, with visible bite
marks on the carapace, and jaguar tracks were found at the
site. The distance between canines (. 70 mm) marked on
the carapace was consistent with that of a jaguar bite
(Hoogesteijn and Hoogesteijn 2005), confirming the
predator’s identity.
In addition, our search revealed records of jaguar
predation on 15 species of chelonia, totaling 16 with the
addition of A. macrocephala (Table 1). Of these, 3 species
were terrestrial, 8 freshwater, and 5 marine. The latter were
killed during nesting times, as were the large freshwater
species, which usually nest in large numbers on beaches.
Small chelonia, such as A. macrocephala, can be
considered a rare prey of jaguars because this turtle
occasionally moves onto dry land to migrate to other water
bodies, as these bodies of water are not always connected
 NOTES AND FIELD REPORTS 281

Table 1. Chelonian species preyed on by the jaguar, including the average mass of each species. An ‘‘X’’ indicates that the predation
event occurred during nesting.

Species Mass (g) Source Nesting Predation source

Freshwater turtles
Chelidae
Acanthochelys macrocephala
Acanthochelys radiolata
Platemys platycephala
Geoemydidae
Rhinoclemmys punctularia
Kinosternidae
Kinosternon scorpioides
Podocnemididae
Podocnemis expansa
Podocnemis unifilis
Podocnemis vogli
Terrestrial turtles
Testudinidae
Chelonoidis carbonarius
Chelonoidis chilensis
Chelonoidis denticulatus
Marine turtles
Cheloniidae
Caretta caretta
Chelonia mydas
Eretmochelys imbricata
Lepidochelys olivacea
Dermochelyidae
Dermochelys coriacea
1761 E. Brito (unpubl. data) This work
422 M. Secco et al. ( pers. comm.) Garla et al. (2001)
245 Herrel et al. (2002) Emmons (1989)
810 E. Brito (unpubl. data) Chávez-Tovar (2010)
284 Carvalho et al. (2008) Montalvo et al. (2014)
24,700 Portelinha et al. (2014) X Salera-Junior et al. (2009)
5760 Fachı́n-Terán and Vogt (2004) X Emmons (1989); Salera-Junior et al.
(2009)
945 Prado (1969) Scognamillo et al. (2003)
6684 Wang et al. (2011) McBride et al. (2010)
1426 Waller et al. (1989) Taber et al. (1997)
6430 Moskovits (1988) Emmons (1989); Garla et al. (2001)
116,000 Rueda-Almonacid et al. (2007) X Arroyo-Arce et al. (2017)
166,300 Hays et al. (2002) X Troëng (2000); Carrillo et al. (2009);
Verı́ssimo et al. (2012); Arroyo-Arce
and Salom-Pérez (2015); Alfaro et al.
(2016)
82,000 Rueda Almonacid et al. (2007) X Verı́ssimo et al. (2012); Arroyo-Arce
and Salom-Pérez (2015)
35,000 Schulz (1975) X Carrillo et al. (2009); Alfaro et al. (2016)
408,100 Georges and Fossette (2006) X Troëng (2000); Verı́ssimo et al. (2012);
Arroyo-Arce and Salom-Pérez (2015)

(Junk et al. 2011). This kind of terrestrial movement is
common in small and midsized freshwater turtles living in
seasonal environments (Bodie and Semlitsch 2000).
Chelonia predation by jaguars has been recorded since
the early days of Neotropical natural history (e.g.,
Humboldt 1877). Topic of durophagy, however, is the
subject of little research (Miranda et al. 2016). Here we
have shown that the jaguar preys on chelonians, including
such heavily armored species as the Chelonoidis tortoises,
and also small species. The study also extends knowledge
of such predation to marine turtles, which are extensively
preyed on during the nesting time. Predation events are
usually higher during peak nesting season and increase as
nesting populations increase (Arroyo-Arce and Salom-
Pérez 2015). Predation of nesting marine turtle has been
the subject of intense discussion because of the conserva-
tion concern for the species being preyed on (especially as
they are all reproductive females) (Verı́ssimo et al. 2012;
Arroyo-Arce and Salom-Pérez 2015). This behavior is
unique in large Panthera cats, with no other species known
to prey on chelonia to such an extent.
Although chelonians have evolved formidable mor-
phological adaptations to avoid predation, the jaguar’s
mandibular adaptions for durophagy appear to have
surpassed them. Jaguars possess the potential capacity to
kill adults of virtually all chelonian species within their
distribution, and our data indicate that they prey on at least
16 species, including A. macrocephala. They can take
advantage of mass nesting events to transform large
aquatic chelonians into staple food items as well as of
opportunistic predation. Predation on nesting females can
lead to conservation conflicts when the prey species is
considered threatened. We suggest that further research on
jaguars preying on chelonia approach the subject from the
foraging theory point of view (Stephens et al. 2007),
comparing predation with prey abundance.
Acknowledgments. — We would like to thank
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientı́fico e
Tecnológico (CNPq) for grant 130873/2014-4 (E.M.),
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nı́vel
Superior (CAPES) for the PNPD grant (E.S.B.), and
Panthera Brasil for logistic support. We further thank
Marina Secco, Sônia Helena Santesso Teixeira de
Mendonça, Rodrigo de Oliveira Lula Salles, Adriano
Lima Silveira, and Vera Lúcia Ferreira Luz, who kindly
offered us the data on Acanthochelys radiolata mass.
LITERATURE CITED
ALFARO, L.D., MONTALVO, V., GUIMARAES, F., SAENZ, C., CRUZ, J.,
MORAZAN, F., AND CARRILO, E. 2016. Characterization of attack
events on sea turtles (Chelonia mydas and Lepudochelys
olivácea) by Jaguar (Panthera onca) in Naranjo Sector, Santa
282 CHELONIAN CONSERVATION AND
Rosa, National Park, Costa Rica. International Journal of
Conservation Science 7:101–108.
ARROYO-ARCE, S. AND SALOM-PÉREZ, R. 2015. Impacto of jaguar
Panthera onca (Carnivora: Felidae) predation on marine turtle
populations in Tortuguero, Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.
Revista de Biologı́a Tropical 63:815–825.
ARROYO-ARCE, S., THOMSON, I., HARRISON, E., WILMOTT, S., AND
BAKER, G. 2017. First record of jaguar (Panthera onca)
predation on a loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) in
Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica. Herpetology Notes 10:
17–18.
BENGTSON, S. 2002. Origins and early evolution of predation.
Paleontological Society Papers 8:289–318.
BODIE, J.R. AND SEMLITSCH, R.D. 2000. Spatial and temporal use
of floodplain habitats by lentic and lotic species of aquatic
turtles. Oecologia 122:138–146.
BRODIE, E.D., JR., FORMANOWICZ, D.R., JR., AND BRODIE, E.D., III.
1991. Predator avoidance and antipredator mechanisms:
distinct pathways to survival. Ethology Ecology and Evolution
3:73–77.
BUMP, J.K., PETERSON, R.O., AND VUCETICH, J.A. 2009. Wolves
modulate soil nutrient heterogeneity and foliar nitrogen by
configuring the distribution of ungulate carcasses. Ecology 90:
3159–3167.
CARO, T. 2005. Antipredator Defenses in Birds and Mammals.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 592 pp.
CARRILLO, E., FULLER, T.K., AND SAENZ, J.C. 2009. Jaguar
Panthera onca hunting activity: effects of prey distribution
and availability. Journal of Tropical Ecology 25:563–567.
CARVALHO, E.A.R., JR., CARVALHO-NETO, C.S., AND PASCHOALINI,
E.L. 2008. Diet of Kinosternon scorpioides in Serra dos Carajás,
Eastern Amazonia. Herpetological Review 39:283–285.
CHÁVEZ-TOVAR, J. 2010. Ecologı́a y conservación del jaguar
Panthera onca y puma Puma concolor en la región de
Calakmul y sus implicaciones para la conservación. PhD
Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México
City, México.
CHRISTIANSEN, P. AND ADOLFSSEN, J.S. 2005. Bite forces, canine
strength and skull allometry in carnivores Mammalia,
Carnivora. Journal of Zoology 266:133–151.
DA SILVEIRA, R., RAMALHO, E.E., THORBJARNARSON, J.B., AND
MAGNUSSON, W.E. 2010. Depredation by jaguars on caimans
and importance of reptiles in the diet of jaguar. Journal of
Herpetology 44:418–424.
EMMONS, L. 1989. Jaguar predation on chelonians. Journal of
Herpetology 23:311–314.
ERNST, C.H. AND BARBOUR, R.W. 1989. Turtles of the World.
Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 313 pp.
FACHÍN-TERÁN, A. AND VOGT, R. 2004. Estrutura populacional,
tamanho e razão sexual de Podocnemis unifilis (Testudines,
Podocnemididae) no rio Guaporé RO, norte do Brasil.
Phyllomedusa 3:29–42.
GARLA, R.C., SETZ, E.Z.F., AND GOBBI, N. 2001. Jaguar Panthera
onca food habits in Atlantic rain forest of southeastern Brazil.
Biotropica 33:691–696.
GENOVART, M., NEGRE, N., TAVECCHIA, G., BISTUER, A., PARPAL,
L., AND ORO, D. 2010. The young, the weak and the sick:
evidence of natural selection by predation. PLoS One 5:e9774.
GEORGES, J.Y. AND FOSSETTE, S. 2006. Estimating body mass in
the leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea. Marine Ecology
Progress Series 318:255–262.
GREENE, H. 1988. Antipredator mechanisms in reptiles. In: Gans,
C. and Huey, R.B. (Eds.). Biology of the Reptilia. New York:
Alan R. Liss, pp. 11–113.
BIOLOGY, Volume 17, Number 2 – 2018
HAYS, G.C., BRODERICK, A.C., GLEN, F., AND GODLEY, B.J. 2002.
Change in body mass associated with long-term fasting in a
marine reptile: the case of green turtles Chelonia mydas at
Ascension Island. Canadian Journal of Zoology 80:1299–
1302.
HEITHAUS, M.R., WIRSING, A.J., THOMSON, J.A., AND BURKHOLDER,
D.A. 2008. A review of lethal and non-lethal effects of
predators on adult marine turtles. Journal of Experimental
Marine Biology and Ecology 356:43–51.
HERREL, A., O’REILLY, J.C., AND RICHMOND, A.M. 2002.
Evolution of bite performance in turtles. Journal of Evolu-
tionary Biology 15:1083–1094.
HOOGESTEIJN, R. AND HOOGESTEIJN, A. 2005. Manual sobre
problemas de depredaciáon causadas por grandes felinos en
hatos ganaderos. Programa de Extensión para Ganaderos.
Programa de Conservación del Jaguar. Campo Grande:
Wildlife Conservation Society, 48 pp.
HUMBOLDT, A. 1877. Personal Narrative of Travels to the
Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent During the Years
1799–1804. New York: AMS Press, 505 pp.
IVERSON, J.B. 1991. Patterns of survivorship in turtles order
Testudines. Canadian Journal of Zoology 69:385–391.
JUNK, W.J., NUNES DA CUNHA C., AND DA SILVA, C.J. 2011. The
Pantanal: a large American wetland and its position in
limnological theory. In: Junk, W.J., Silva, C.J., Nunes da
Cunha, C., and Wantzen, K.M. (Eds.). The Pantanal: Ecology,
Biodiversity and Sustainable Management of a Large
Neotropical Seasonal Wetland. Sofia: Pensoft Publishers, pp.
127–141.
MCBRIDE, R., GIORDANO, A., AND BALLARD, W. 2010. Note on the
winter diet of jaguars Panthera onca in the Paraguayan
Transitional Chaco. Bellbird 4:1–12.
MIRANDA, E.B.P., MENEZES, J.F.S., AND RHEINGANTZ, M.L. 2016.
Reptiles as principal prey? Adaptations for durophagy and
prey selection by jaguar (Panthera onca). Journal of Natural
History 50:2021–2035.
MONTALVO, V.H., ALFARO, L.D., SÁENZ, C., AND CARRILO, E.
2014. The jaguar as a potential predator of Kinosternon
scorpioides (Linnaeus, 1766). Herpetozoa 27:205–207.
MOSKOVITS, D. 1988. Sexual dimorphism and population
estimates of the two Amazonian tortoises Geochelone
carbonaria and G denticulata in northwestern Brazil.
Herpetologica 44:209–217.
ORIHUELA, G., TERBORGH, J., CEBALLOS, N., AND GLANDER, K.
2014. When top-down becomes bottom up: behaviour of
hyperdense howler monkeys Alouatta seniculus trapped on a
06 ha island. PLoS One 9:e82197.
PORTELINHA, T., MALVASIO, A., PIÑA, C., AND BERTOLUCI, J. 2014.
Population structure of Podocnemis expansa (Testudines:
Podocnemididae) in southern Brazilian Amazon. Copeia 4:
707–715.
PRADO, H.A. 1969. Contribución al conocimiento de la
morfologı́a, ecologı́a, comportamiento and distribución geo-
gráfica de Podocnemis vogli (Testudinata). Revista de la
Academia Colombiana 13:303–329.
PREISSER, E.L., BOLNICK, D.I., AND BENARD, M.F. 2005. Scared to
death? The effects of intimidation and consumption in
predator-prey interactions. Ecology 86:501–509.
RHODIN, A.G.J., MÉTRAILER, S., VINKE, T., VINKE, S., ARTNER, H.,
AND MITTERMEIER, R.A. 2009. Acanthochelys macrocephala
(Rhodin, Mittermeier, and McMorris 1984—big-headed
Pantanal swamp turtle, Pantanal swamp turtle. In: Rhodin,
A.G.J., Pritchard, P.C.H., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A.,
Buhlmann, K.A., Iverson, J.B., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.).
Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A
 NOTES AND
Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwa-
ter Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs
5:040.1–040.8.
RUEDA-ALMONACID, J.V., CARR, J.L., MITTERMEIER, R.A., RODRÍ-
GUEZ-MAHECHA, J.V., MAST, R.B., VOGT, R.C., RHODIN, A.G.J.,
OSSA-VELÁSQUEZ, J., RUEDA, J.N., AND MITTERMEIER, C.G.
2007. Las tortugas y los cocodrilianos de los paı́ses andinos
del Trópico. Bogotá: Conservatión Internacional, 537 pp.
SALERA-JUNIOR, G., MALVASIO, A., AND PORTELINHA, T.C.G. 2009.
Avaliação da predação de Podocnemis expansa e Podocnemis
unifilis Testudines, Podocnemididae no rio Javaés, Tocantins.
Acta Amazonica 39:207–213.
SCHULZ, J.P. 1975. Sea turtles nesting in surinam. Zoologische
Verhandelingen 143:1–143.
SCOGNAMILLO, D., MAXIT, I.E., SUNQUIST, M., AND POLISAR, J.
2003. Coexistence of jaguar Panthera onca and puma Puma
concolor in a mosaic landscape in the Venezuelan llanos.
Journal of Zoology 259:269–279.
SEYMOUR, K. 1989. Panthera onca. Mammalian Species 340:1–9.
STEPHENS, D., BROWN, J., AND YDENBERG., R. 2007. Foraging:
Behavior and Ecology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
608 pp.
TABER, A.B., NOVARO, A.J., NERIS, N., AND COLMAN, F.H. 1997.
The food habits of sympatric jaguar and puma in the
Paraguayan Chaco. Biotropica 29:204–213.
View publication stats
FIELD REPORTS 283
TROËNG, S. 2000. Prédation of green Chelonia mydas and
leatherback Dermochelys coriacea turtles. Chelonian Conser-
vation and Biology 3:751–753.
VERÍSSIMO, D., JONES, D., CHAVERRI, R., AND MEYER, S. 2012.
Jaguar Panthera onca predation of marine turtles: conflict
between flagship species in Tortuguero, Costa Rica. Oryx 46:
340–347.
WALLER, T., MICUCCI, P., AND RICHARD, E. 1989. Preliminary
Results of the Research on Biology, Ecology and Conserva-
tion of the Chelonoidis chilensis (Sensu Lato) Gray, 1870
Tortoise in Argentina. Buenos Aires: Proyecto Tortuga,
Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, 43 pp.
WANG, E., DONATTI, C.I., FERREIRA, V.L., RAIZER, J., AND
HIMMELSTEIN, J. 2011. Food habits and notes on the biology
of Chelonoidis carbonaria Spix 1824 Testudinidae, Chelonia
in the southern Pantanal, Brazil. South American Journal of
Herpetology 6:11–19.
WATSON, J. 2010. The Golden Eagle. Poyser: Bloomsbury
Publishing, 320 pp.
Received: 24 April 2018
Revised and Accepted: 5 July 2018
Published Online: 18 December 2018
Handling Editor: Jeffrey A. Seminoff