Cockscomb Revisited: Jaguar Diet in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize¹

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize was established in 1986 following Rabinowitz and Nottingham's 1986 study on jaguar diet and distribution. In 2002, we reexamined jaguar diet following two decades of mitigated human hunting of jaguar prey. We observed high overlap between historical and current jaguar diet constructs. Nine‐banded armadillo remained the most frequently consumed prey item. However, collared peccary consumption increased by nearly 20 percent while dietary breadth decreased by 60 percent presumably reflecting increased prey availability following reduced human hunting pressure.