Jaguar Directory

[Pckts]

(05-03-2023, 10:17 PM)Balam Wrote: @Pckts @Ngonya @Mapokser 

Hi guys, someone informed me about the conversation you were having on jaguar coalitions on the predation thread and I decided to stop by to give some information.

Last year there was a study published by major jaguar biologists on coalitions in the species across the Llanos and Pantanal: Collaborative behaviour and coalitions in male jaguars (Panthera onca)—evidence and comparison with other felids, Jędrzejewski et al. (2022).

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

I made a post that went over that paper in my community but I'm going to include some key takeaways here:

• The paper in question studied the interactions of several jaguar coalitions in the Venezuelan Llanos and Pantanal, across 5 different areas within those eco-regions. Most of the interactions between males recorded involved cooperative behaviour/coalitions, with lesser observations of violent behaviour.
• The researchers found that there was a direct correlation between the formation of jaguar coalitions and the density of females in a particular area, which in turn is dependent on the availability of prey in that area. The same cause is what drives male lions and cheetahs to form coalitions.
• The paper also touched on a very important point that could have fostered these sorts of interactions among jaguars, and that is the prey availability during the Pleistocene, which used to be much higher in South America prior to the mass extinction of the Quaternary period.
  As large and plentiful prey increases the number of female jaguars, that in turn fosters social pairings and the creation of coalitions in males. While the native megafauna of South America is for the most part gone, to an extent the introduction of large quantities of cattle has allowed for the replication of these sorts of ecological systems to a lesser degree.
• While this paper touched upon two eco-regions, the Orinoco Llanos (Colombia, Venezuela), and the Pantanal (Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia), indirect evidence seem to suggest that this phenomenon is also in other eco-regions with less available data, particularly the Chaco, where prey densities and jaguar body mass and size are also very close to the Llanos and Pantanal.
  

To finish off the breakdown of this paper, it is very clear that jaguars are social creatures and the idea of them being completely solitary animals is outdated and should not be continued. Male jaguars will form coalitions in areas with high prey density and as a result high female densities as well. Female densities were the main factor for the formation of jaguar coalitions, just as it occurs with lions and cheetahs. The coalition behaviour and structure among jaguars much closely resembled that of lions, including patrolling together, mating with females in the presence of the accompanying coalition male, and fighting/killing adversaries as well as taking over their territory.

While this particular study did not record instances of the jaguar coalition hunting collaboratively together, as the paper mentions, it is possible that this takes place and more research needs to be conducted to record instances of such nature. Perhaps with large-bodied prey like free-ranging cattle, feral buffaloes and horses, which are found in the two studied regions, collaborative hunting will be eventually recorded as well, something that may have happened with the native megafauna that jaguars used to cohabit with during the Pleistocene. This paper is simply the first look at a very intriguing body of research on jaguar ecology.

In regards to Xando/Bororo. Xando has not been seen in the Porto Jofre area since 2021 I believe, but Bororo has cemented himself as a dominant male in the area. We don't know if they eventually went their own way or if something happened to Xando (poaching, being killed by another jaguar, infection, etc.). Bororo was seen in 2021 with a nasty wound to the face after fighting with what was at the time a new male in the area named Bagua for mating rights, which Bororo won and was left with a deep wound to the face:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

What's amazing is that the wound ended up healing pretty well and there is almost not trace of it on his face nowadays:

*This image is copyright of its original author

What's even more amazing is that the male he fouhgt, Bagua, ended up forming a colation with another local and larger male named Xingu. We've named the coalition Cuachicqueh, Nahuatl term for an elite warrior class from Aztec society. They are still together as they were recorded a few days ago:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

There is also another coalition of some huge males recently recorded at Reserva Santa Sofia in the southern Pantanal, an area that is tracked by Onçafari. The names of the coalition partners are Tico and Teco, we don't know if they are related:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Just to add a few more things, I remember Paulo telling me that Jaguars in the N. (and I'm sure S.) aren't the same type of "territorial."
You can see rival males within very close proximity to one another, even laying together or sharing a meal then the next season you can them fighting each other or one of them being ran off, etc. 

Both of our theories were similar, because the Pantanal's landscape is forever changing there is no need to be "territorial" since said territory can be completely under water season to season. Really it comes down to females in heat or food with females in heat probably being the biggest instigator. Reply