Mountain lion predation in a multi-prey system on private lands in Texas

Prey use and diet of large carnivores can have important impacts on food webs, wildlife management, and human conflict. Mountain lions ( Puma concolor ) are large, apex predators that are commonly controlled for livestock depredation and ungulate population management strategies. We assessed predato...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mammal research 2023-10, Vol.68 (4), p.481-493
Main Authors: Veals Dutt, Amanda M., Dennison, Catherine C., Harveson, Patricia Moody, Geary, Bert W., Thompson, Ron W., Milani, Dana, Harveson, Louis A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Ecology
biomass
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Carnivores
cattle
Cervus elaphus
Deer
Diet
Domestic animals
Elk
elks
Evolutionary Biology
females
Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management
Food webs
humans
Life Sciences
Livestock
Mountains
Odocoileus
Odocoileus hemionus
Original Paper
Pecari tajacu
Predation
Predator-prey interactions
Predators
Predatory behavior
Prey
prey species
Puma concolor
species
Sus scrofa
swine
Texas
Wildlife management
Zoology
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Summary:Prey use and diet of large carnivores can have important impacts on food webs, wildlife management, and human conflict. Mountain lions ( Puma concolor ) are large, apex predators that are commonly controlled for livestock depredation and ungulate population management strategies. We assessed predatory behavior on privately owned lands in the Davis Mountains, TX, using GPS data from 16-collared mountain lions (10 females, 6 males) and 200 confirmed kill sites and four scavenged carcasses. We examined predation by this apex predator in a multi-prey system to understand mountain lion diet as a first step to understanding predator–prey dynamics in the Davis Mountains, TX. Mountain lions in the Davis Mountains used a wide variety of prey and did not rely on one prey species. The top prey species (80% of diet) were deer ( Odocoileus spp.), elk ( Cervus elaphus ), feral hog ( Sus scrofa ), and javelina ( Pecari tajacu ). We observed individual differences in diet for the six female mountain lions with ≥ 13 kills. Males were significantly more likely to prey on javelina than females (3.20 log odds ± 0.677 SE, p  
ISSN:2199-2401
2199-241X
DOI:10.1007/s13364-023-00699-x