Publication Date:
2014-10-04
Description:
Pumas (Puma concolor) live in diverse, often rugged, complex habitats. The energy they expend for hunting must account for this complexity but is difficult to measure for this and other large, cryptic carnivores. We developed and deployed a physiological SMART (species movement, acceleration, and radio tracking) collar that used accelerometry to continuously monitor energetics, movements, and behavior of free-ranging pumas. This felid species displayed marked individuality in predatory activities, ranging from low-cost sit-and-wait behaviors to constant movements with energetic costs averaging 2.3 times those predicted for running mammals. Pumas reduce these costs by remaining cryptic and precisely matching maximum pouncing force (overall dynamic body acceleration = 5.3 to 16.1g) to prey size. Such instantaneous energetics help to explain why most felids stalk and pounce, and their analysis represents a powerful approach for accurately forecasting resource demands required for survival by large, mobile predators.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Williams, Terrie M -- Wolfe, Lisa -- Davis, Tracy -- Kendall, Traci -- Richter, Beau -- Wang, Yiwei -- Bryce, Caleb -- Elkaim, Gabriel Hugh -- Wilmers, Christopher C -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Oct 3;346(6205):81-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1254885. Epub 2014 Oct 2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA. williams@biology.ucsc.edu. ; Wildlife Health Program, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 4330 West Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA. ; Center for Integrated Spatial Research, Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. ; Autonomous Systems Lab, Department of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25278610" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
*Carnivora
;
*Energy Metabolism
;
*Predatory Behavior
;
Puma/*metabolism/*psychology
;
Running
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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