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A cougar is on the prowl amidst a nesting group of Magellanic penguins situated within Argentina’s Monte Leon National Park.(Image credit: Serota et al. / Proc B)ShareShare by:
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Patagonian pumas are hunting penguins, altering the interactions between these large felines.
These pumas have resettled in an Argentinian reserve that hosts a penguin breeding colony, quickly making the seabirds part of their diet. Current findings suggest that these typically isolated creatures are displaying an unexpected level of tolerance towards one another when preying on penguins, according to the latest investigation reported Wednesday (Dec. 17) in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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“Reintroducing wildlife to today’s modified landscapes doesn’t just turn back the clock for ecosystems,” commented study co-author Mitchell Serota, an ecologist at Duke Farms in New Jersey. “It has the potential to spark entirely new interactions that affect animal behavior and populations in surprising ways.”
In the 20th century, sheep farmers in Patagonia pushed pumas out of the area. After Monte Leon National Park’s founding in 2004, pumas began to repopulate the area. However, in their absence, various species had become accustomed to lessened predation. Case in point: a Magellanic penguin grouping (Spheniscus magellanicus), usually restricted to offshore islands, built up a mainland breeding colony of around 40,000 mating pairs.
Shortly after the park’s establishment, investigators began identifying penguin remnants within puma excrement. The pumas were utilizing the ecosystem changes.
“We initially assumed it was only a couple of pumas that were doing this,” stated Serota, who undertook the research while pursuing his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley. “However, upon arriving there … we observed an immense amount of puma activity nearby the penguin nesting site.”
Within the new research, scientists utilized cameras to gauge the number of pumas residing near the penguin breeding colony, across a 1.2 mile (2 kilometers) shoreline within the national park. They also monitored 14 pumas individually with GPS devices and examined penguin remains at kill locations spanning multiple field studies taken between 2019 and 2023. Nine of the tracked pumas hunted penguins, while the remaining five did not.
Pumas are preying on penguins at Monte León National Park in Argentina. The yellow area signals the penguin colony. On the right, several photographs depict pumas entering the colony.
The research revealed that pumas that consume penguins demonstrated increased variability within their seasonal home ranges. Throughout the penguins’ breeding period in the national park, these puma predators remained near the colony. However, their range approximately doubled when the penguins migrated offshore for the summer.
Penguin-eating pumas also displayed more frequent encounters with each other compared to pumas that relied on different prey. Scientists registered 254 instances of contact between two pumas that both consumed penguins and just four instances between pumas with non-penguin diets. A majority of puma meetups occurred within 0.6 miles (1 km) of the penguin colony.
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The difference suggests that pumas consuming penguins exhibit a greater tolerance for each other, mainly since they face less competition for the abundant food, as numerous pumas exploited the colony as a food resource. In reality, the researchers observed that the puma density within the park was over twice the highest recorded concentration in Argentina previously. Typically, adult pumas prefer solitude, establishing extensive territories to ensure sufficient prey for themselves and their young.
Juan Ignacio Zanon Martinez, an ecologist focused on populations at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), who didn’t participate in the investigation, stated via email to Live Science that appreciating the behavior of large carnivores upon their return to human-impacted ecosystems “is important for preservation planning, because it allows managers to …develop management plans founded on present-day ecosystem operation, not on presumed past operation.”
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Understanding the behavior of pumas impacts both the cats and penguins and could improve future conservation activities in the park.
For example, while significant breeding colonies might be unaffected by puma predation, it could hinder the development of new, more diminutive colonies. As Javier Ciancio, a biologist at CONICET who did not engage in the research, noted, it’s a “complex situation for the managers of the territory, since you have two native [species] interacting,” uniquely due to previous human ecosystem alterations.
Serota mentioned that future efforts by the team would delve into how the puma-penguin relationship shapes the pumas’ other food options, like the guanaco (Lama guanicoe), a relative of the llama.
Skyler WareSocial Links NavigationLive Science Contributor
Skyler Ware serves as an independent science reporter covering aspects of chemistry, biology, paleontology, and Earth science. She participated as a 2023 AAAS Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellow at Science News. Her contributions have also featured in Science News Explores, ZME Science, and Chembites, among other platforms. Skyler holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech.
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