Cougar Predation

[Balam]

Cougar predation on feral red deer across different sites in Argentina.

From: Un análisis preliminar de causas de mortalidad, mortandad relacionada a capturas y supervivencia en adultos de ciervo colorado en el noroeste de la Patagonia, by Flueck et al.

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ABSTRACT. The red deer (Cervus elaphus), among the world’s 14 most invasive exotic mammals, hasrecently arrived in Patagonia. Forty-seven deer were captured, marked with radio collars, andmonitored in order to determine survival rates and identify causes of death. Net gunning froma helicopter allowed captures to be evenly distributed through the study area and in a timely manner.The absence of capture related mortality in our study agrees with previously reported low ratesfor this method. Animals were monitored for periods ranging from 5 to 2611 days. Ten animalsprovided censored values due to radio failures or being shot: they survived on average 811 days(SE = 221) after capture. Ten animals experienced natural deaths with an average time alive aftercapture of 413 days (SE = 106): eight were killed by puma (Puma concolor). The remaining 27 animalswere alive for an average of 974 days (SE = 52). Twenty-one percent of the animals died naturallyduring 38.549 deer-days. Using the Kaplan-Meier procedure, the annual survival rates for theyears 2001-2003 were 0.89, 0.91 and 0.92 respectively (n = 47); the average annual survival ratebeing 91%. Although predation was the most important cause of adult mortality, all mortalitysources combined (puma predation, legal and illegal hunting, disease, emigration) have not maintaineddeer population density low enough to prevent food limitation from occurring in the recent past. 

Cougar with red deer kill from the Luro park, in the pampas of Argentina where red deer are particularly plentiful:

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