Capybara responses to varying levels of predation risk

AVILA, ANA BELEN; CORRIALE, MARÍA JOSE; DONADIO, EMILIANO; DI BITETTI, MARIO S.; PONZIO, MARINA F.; CANTARELLI, VERONICA; DE ANGELO, CARLOS

ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2022 vol. 190 p. 1 - 1

0003-3472

redators can generate physiological and behavioural responses in prey individuals. Thus, carnivore reintroductions might cause profound changes in communities and ecosystems by modifying antipredator responses. Combining observational and experimental approaches, we compared the short- and long-term antipredator responses of capybaras, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, between a landscape with a high density of predators (Pantanal, Brazil) and a landscape where predators became extinct in the mid-20th century but where a jaguar reintroduction project was in progress (Iberá, Argentina). Generalized linear models were used to test whether the presence of natural predators affects capybara behavioural budgets, gregarious behaviour and the associated physiological stress responses and to test whether, in the short term, capybaras increase their vigilance levels after detecting the proximity of a simulated predator (a playback of jaguar, Panthera onca, calls). Capybaras in the Pantanal did not sh