Safe in the heights: trees as safer sites for female jaguars and their cubs in the Pantanal

Big cats can climb trees, and among large felid species, leopards (Panthera pardus) are most known to do so, hunting and managing to stash their prey on trees (Sunquist and Sunquist 2002). Selective pressure may have favored the development of this behavior in leopards because it minimizes kleptoparasitism by dominant competitors, such as lions (Panthera leo), hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), and tigers (Panthera tigris) (Stander et al. 1997; Karanth and Sunquist 2000; de Ruiter and Berger 2001). Leopards can also use trees as a refuge after being detected by competitors (Rafiq 2016) and for scent marking behaviors (Bothma and le Richet 1995). Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), especially territorial males, use “play trees” for scent marking as part of their communications and territorial marking (Marker-Kraus et al. 1996). Serengeti lions climb trees to play, lie on the broad horizontal branches, scan the landscape looking for preys, or escape from harassment of buffalos (Syncerus caffer) and hyenas (Schaller 1972). Although there are anecdotal reports about jaguars (Panthera onca) hiding in trees from hunters, little is known about tree use by the largest cat of the Neotropics…