Abstract:
We report here new sites where jaguars Panthera onca prey upon sea turtles in
Costa Rica. We conducted carcass counts (n = 228) along eight beaches located in
Santa Rosa National Park NP, which makes part of Guanacaste Conservation Area,
between June and August 2016. The olive ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys olivacea
was the most common species predated by jaguars (50% carcasses), followed by
the green sea turtle Chelonia mydas (30%) and the hawksbill sea turtle Eretmochelys
imbricata (0.44%). The site with the most predation events (41%) was Nancite beach.
Our results suggest that predation levels could be influenced by both prey availability
(e.g. sea turtles) and jaguar distribution on each beach. This information will not
only improve our knowledge regarding the distribution of jaguar predation across
the country, but also increase our understanding about this predator-prey interaction.
