King Vultures (Sarcoramphus papa) follow jaguar in the Serranía de la Cerbatana, Venezuela

Abstract

I collected data over six field seasons (34 ½ wks) between 1994-2000 at Hato Las
Nieves in northwestern Bolívar state, Venezuela. A mean of 6.4 King Vultures (Sarcoramphus papa) ± 4.9 SD (range = 2-15) searched in flight for jaguar (Panthera onca) or remains of kills and were present at or seen going directly to kills. Jaguarrelated activities took place on 27 of the 162 days on which the vultures were not feeding on livestock carcasses. On 16 days only vultures presumed to be local to the area (n = 2-4 adults, 1 young) were involved. The presence of a jaguar was confirmed by tracks and/or known kills on livestock. Vulture behaviours were correlated with dates and locations of tracks and kills as well as with direction of travel of tracks. After sighting a jaguar, King Vultures perched to monitor the feline, or showed prolonged circling overhead, and then focused searching to specific areas, indicating they knew the routes it used and the areas most likely to have kills. Searching often alternated, from one day to the next or from morning to afternoon, with monitoring the ranch refuse dump, feeding on remains of former carcasses or foraging in palm stands. King Vultures also monitored large terrestrial mammals that were potential big-cat prey, especially white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), often when a jaguar was or had been present. A small number (n = 1-8) of American Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) and/or Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura ruficollis), the only other Cathartidae in the area, joined the King Vultures in searching on only 9 days and did not go into the mountains with them. Searching for jaguar and/or kills along the presumed travel routes of the feline was mainly a King Vulture activity, but the smaller vulture species were present (n = 26 and 10 birds, respectively) at kills within the valley. Few published data are available on the use of big-cat kills by vultures in the Neotropics, and further study is needed on the proportion of such kills, notably those of jaguar, in the food supply of King Vultures.

Vulture News Vol. 57 2007: pp. 4-16