Cougar Predation

[Dark Jaguar]

Puma (Puma concolor) predation on a water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication...us_bubalis

''On 15 April 2008, a 3-month-old female water buffalo calf was killed and consumed by two pumas. Based on the tracks found around the carcass, an adult female puma and one cub visited the carcass. No tracks of jaguars were found near the carcass. The calf was found in a patch of forest inside an allotment where a group of adult female buffalos and their calves were grazing. The carcass was lying on the ground, uncovered, under the shade of a tree and not yet consumed by scavengers (Figure 1). The necropsy indicated multiple marks of wounds inflicted on the throat. The multiple marks match the size and shape of a large carnivore’s bite. The death could have been caused by asphyxiation. The abdominal cavity was opened. Distal portions of several ribs were partially consumed and the hide and muscles of the leftlateral abdominal area were fed upon. We did not find fractures on the skull or other bones. On 16 April, the female puma returned to the carcass and dragged it approximately 10m away, taking it through a four-wired fence to another allotment where the carcass was fed upon again. The puma consumed portions of the ribs and part of the left shoulder.Before its death, the calf was in apparent good nutritional condition but had difficulty moving owing to some hind limb problems.

A potential explanation for this puma predation we observed could be related to the calf’s limited mobility together with the energetic needs of the female puma at the time of the encounter. We speculate that, having to provide for her dependent cub, the female puma might have risked an attack towards the buffalo herd and killed the calf.''

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