A new study has revealed how four wild cat species – pumas, jaguars, ocelots and margays – living side by side in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve avoid competing for food.
Combining trail camera footage with DNA analysis, researchers from Oregon State University and the Wildlife Conservation Society of Guatemala were able to figure out exactly what the animals were eating.
Based on their diets, the team believe the wild cats are hunting in different vertical zones in the rainforest, from the forest floor to the canopy. In essence, the four species have created their own prey niches, allowing them to all live together.
The research, published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, sheds light on how large predators can coexist in dense tropical forests. “As habitat loss and climate change reshape ecosystems, understanding how predators partition resources will be critical for conservation,” says lead author Ellen Dymit, a doctoral researcher at Oregon State University.
Tracking rainforest predators
Understanding how animals with similar needs can live together in the same landscape is an important area of study in ecology. Many savanna carnivores avoid conflict by using different areas or hunting at different times of day. Yet in rainforests, where much of the available space lies above the ground, vertical zones may be just as vital.
To find out more, Dymit and her team ventured deep into the Maya Biosphere Reserve, a subtropical forest stretching across more than 8,000 square miles of north-eastern Guatemala, Mexico and Belize.
Here, the researchers installed 55 ground cameras and 30 canopy cameras positioned at around 12 metres above the forest floor.
With the help of two detection dogs, Barley and Niffler, the field team also gathered 215 scat samples for analysis.
Combining DNA metabarcoding from the scat with camera trap footage, the researchers were able to work out the full extent of the wild cats’ diets.
Jaguars ate mainly peccaries (pig-like ungulates) and nine-banded armadillos. Ocelots focused on medium and small mammals including opossums and Gaumer’s spiky pocket mice. While margays fed mostly on small arboreal mammals such as mice, rats and opossums.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Central American spider monkeys and black howler monkeys made up the largest share of the puma diet. This was followed by brocket deer, peccaries and lowland pacas (a large rodent).
The team suggests that pumas, which are lighter than jaguars, may be capable of moving through the lower canopy, supporting the idea that the predators may be ambushing prey above ground level.
Dymit and her colleagues say their findings highlight how rainforest predators carve out ecological niches across various vertical zones. Understanding these patterns will be increasingly important as forests continue to shrink and fragment, forcing predators into smaller spaces where competition could intensify.
Top image: Guatemala forest. Credit: Getty
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