Abstract
  1. Jaguars (Panthera onca ) are the largest felids in America, a species mainly threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting, loss of prey density, and illegal trafficking. Jaguars are mainly nocturnal predators that need large portions of suitable habitat with abundant prey populations. The aim of this work was to assess both jaguar and prey activity patterns, their relations and to understand if the presence/absence of prey and their activity patterns might determine the movements of jaguars in a spatio-temporal frame.
  2. Movement ecology allows us to study details of activity patterns and predator-prey dynamics. We used data from camera trapping records of 125 jaguar events of presence from 9,360 camera trap days effort and data from five jaguars with GPS collars, to analyze: 1) Temporal activity patterns; 2) Average speed movement; 3) Average of traveled distances and 4) Co-occurrence analysis for jaguars and preys. Differences between sexes and between seasons were also evaluated. A total of 12,566 segments of movement were recorded.
  3. Two activity peaks were identified between 07:00-08:00 and 22:00-23:00 hours. Average traveled distance was 265.66 m/h (± 390.98 m/h). The maximum hourly distance was 2,760.25 m/h; with significant differences considering the hour of day (χ2 = 324.51, df 11, p < 0.001), with higher mean values between 00:00 and 08:00 h. The average distance covered by males was higher than females (Z –24.827, p < 0.001): 341.64 ± 440.03 m/h and 146.31 ± 259.04 m/h respectively. Significant differences considering seasons were found (Z = –16.442, p < 0.001): average distance during the dry season was 230.35 ± 365.87 m/h and was higher during the rainy season: 337.082 ± 430.45 m/h. Differences according to season were also consistent considering males and females separately (males: Z = –6.212, p < 0.001; females: Z = –15.801, p < 0.001). Occupation model analysis revealed that two of the five pairs of species (P. onca and P. tajacu andP. onca and C. paca ) occur with more frequency than if they were independent, while in terms of co-detection, P. oncaand P. tajacu and P. onca and C. paca showed independence.
  4. Our study provides valuable details about jaguar movement ecology and their space-time dynamics, as well as their interactions with prey species.