As if Magellanic penguins didn’t have enough to worry about to survive on the chilly environs of Monte León National Park on Argentina’s Patagonian coast, they now have a new problem: pumas.
As conservation efforts in the national park, which was previously a sheep ranch, have restored the population of pumas (Puma concolor), researchers have documented the unexpected phenomenon of the big cats preying on penguins.
Pumas hunting penguins
In 2004, when Doug and Kris Tompkins, founders of Tompkins Conservation, donated 170,000 acres to the Argentine government to create Monte León National Park, thousands of Magellanic penguins were making their home there. Following the park’s creation, wildlife began to rebound, including Patagonia’s largest terrestrial predator, which appears to have developed a liking for the easy-to-catch prey.
Researchers from the University of California Berkeley, Rewilding Argentina and the Argentine Research Council (CONICET) have spent several years studying the surprising cat-and-bird interaction.
The team captured, collared and monitored 14 adult pumas across the park and deployed a large camera trap array to estimate puma density and assess their behaviour, allowing them to understand how pumas moved, interacted and responded to the seasonal arrival of penguins.
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Analysing four years of GPS and camera data revealed surprising results: during the penguins’ breeding season (September to March), pumas preyed heavily on penguins.
“Pumas range from Canada to the southern tip of South America, occupying forests, grasslands, shrublands and deserts,” says Emiliano Donadio, Director of Science for Rewilding Argentina.
“They cope with deep snow, scorching summers and freezing winters because they can eat almost anything, from mice to elk and everything in-between. But penguins? Seriously? Yes. Their ability to feed on so many different prey species is a striking reminder of how remarkably adaptable this top predator is, capable of thriving in nearly every environment across the Americas.”
Is this hunting behaviour new? “There were some informal reports of pumas killing penguins at our site going back to 2007, and chances are that in the past they also took the few penguins that wandered onto the mainland,” explains Donadio. “But having a large proportion of a puma population relying almost entirely on penguins for part of the year, when penguins come ashore to nest, is something new. It’s a surprising and unexpected interaction between a land predator and a marine prey.”
The pumas’ hunting of penguins has been seen to have dramatic effects on puma movements and social interactions.
Pumas that preyed on penguins interacted with other pumas up to five times more than those that didn’t, suggesting that the abundant, clustered prey resource made them more tolerant of each other.
The penguins anchored pumas to smaller territories - when penguins seasonally migrated, pumas responded by quickly expanding their movement.
The results also demonstrated that penguins, together with guanacos, help support an abundant and healthy population of pumas, highlighting the importance of native prey to native predators.
Penguins, historically not abundant to the coast of Patagonia, represent a novel prey for pumas. European settlements brought the eradication of predators, including foxes and pumas, allowing penguins to colonise the continental coast and form large breeding colonies.
“By hunting penguins, pumas are linking the ocean and the land in a totally new way,” says Donadio. “For part of the year, many pumas in the park are basically living off marine nutrients, the penguins, and whatever’s left from the penguins ends up fertilising plants on land. So, pumas are literally bringing ocean nutrients inland.
"Preliminary results are also showing that when penguins come ashore to nest, and stay there during six months, other usual puma prey, like lesser rheas and guanacos, face less danger. The ripple effects are wide and surprisingly diverse.”
Top image: puma attacking Magellanic penguins. Credit: Tompkins Conservation | Rewilding Argentina
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