Pseudolmedia yagouaroundi

Voss, Robert S. & Fleck, David W., 2017, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 2: Xenarthra, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, And Sirenia, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2017 (417), pp. 1-1 : 1-

Puma yagouaroundi

(Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803)

Figure 14B

VOUCHER MATERIAL: None. OTHER INTERFLUVIAL RECORDS: Río Yavarí (Salovaara et al., 2003), Río Yavarí-Mirím (Salovaara et al., 2003), San Pedro (Valqui, 1999). IDENTIFICATION: Jaguarundis are externally distinctive ( Emmons, 1997), although inexperi-

enced observers sometimes confuse them with tayras. Several subspecies are currently recognized (Wozencraft, 2005), of which the local form is melantho Thomas, 1914, with type locality at 800 m in the upper Ucayali drainage (Pasco department, Peru). Recent phylogeographic analyses of mtDNA sequence data, however, do not support the taxonomic recognition of any geographic subdivisions of this widespread species (Ruiz-Garía and Pinedo Castro, 2013). Thomas’s (1914) measurements of an adult male and an adult female appear to be the only published morphometric data from western Amazonian specimens of Puma yagouaroundi .

ETHNOBIOLOGY: The most common name for the jaguarundi is bëdi çhëşhë (“black feline/ canine”). A variant of this term is bëdi wisu, in which the archaic term for “black” (wisu) is substituted for the regular term for “black” (çhëşhë). In some villages it is called şhododon, which is an onomatopoetic form imitating the jaguarundi’s loud whining call. Some speakers who use şhododon for the jaguarundi use the term bëdi çhëşhë or bëdi wisu to refer to the short-eared dog. Others consider bëdi çhëşhë, bëdi wisu, and şhododon to be synonyms. A minority consider the short-eared dog and the jaguarundi to be the same animal.

The jaguarundi is of no economic importance. Is not eaten by the Matses, and there only is only one known case of one being kept as a pet.

When the jaguarundi whines loudly at night near a village or longhouse, saying “şhon şhon şhon,” it is interpreted as a death omen, that is, that someone in the village will soon die.

Matses with young children avoid having any contact with or even looking at a jaguarundi, lest its spirit make their children ill (see the ethnobiology entry for Puma concolor for details on symptoms and treatment of contagion by felids).

MATSES NATURAL HISTORY: The jaguarundi is black or grayish black. It has a very long tail.

Jaguarundis can be found in any rainforest habitat, including upland and floodplain forest. They sometimes hunt along the margins of Matses swiddens where rodents (spiny rats, agoutis, and acouchis) that feed on Matses crops (especially manioc) are abundant.

Jaguarundis hunt during the day. At bata trees ( Pseudolmedia spp. [ Moraceae ]), where ripe fruits have fallen to the ground, the jaguarundi waits for animals that come to eat the fruits, and it also eats the fallen fruits. It waits for prey sitting on or under fallen trees.

Jaguarundis do not travel in large groups. The female gives birth to two young in a hollow log or a hole in the ground. When the young are very small and still have their eyes closed, the mother hunts and brings back meat for them. When their eyes open and they are a bit stronger, they travel with the mother and the mother kills prey and gives them some to eat. Eventually they leave the mother and begin to hunt for themselves.

The jaguarundi chases down lizards that are sunning themselves. It does not eat the tails of lizards. It kills geckos by jumping up on a tree trunk as they are climbing up. It covers its kill with dry leaves after eating a part and then goes to drink water. It walks on logs to catch tinamous.

The jaguarundi makes a whining sound (the Matses imitate the whine as “sho-do-doon”).

The jaguarundi has a very varied diet. It eats terrestrial birds, including white-throated tinamous ( Tinamus guttatus ), great tinamous ( T. major ), smaller species of tinamous (Crypterellus spp.), wood quails ( Odontophorus spp. ), ground doves (multiple species) and striated antthrushes ( Chamaeza nobilis ). It also eats agoutis, acouchies, spiny rats, and other small rodents, but not pacas or other large animals. It also eats short-tailed opossums ( Monodelphis spp. ), iguanas, golden tegus, other large lizards, and geckos. It also eats bata tree fruits, ripe plantains, and fallen echo tree ( Jacaratia sp. [ Caricaceae ]) fruits. It eats the eggs of Spix’s guan ( Penelope jacquacu ) and those of other birds that nest close to the ground. It eats meat that a jaguar has stashed and the guts of armadillos that Matses have butchered, dragging the guts into the forest from the edge of the village.

REMARKS: Most Matses observations about jaguarundis agree with the literature reviewed by Oliveira (1998a) and Giordano (2016), especially with respect to diurnal activity and terrestrial habits (the latter is implied rather than stated directly in Matses interviews). Their observation that “jaguarundis do not travel in large groups” contrasts with unambiguous statements that other felids are solitary (see Matses accounts for ocelots, margays, jaguars, and pumas; above) and is probably explained by the fact that these small cats are sometimes observed travelling in pairs ( Giordano, 2016). The repeated mention of lizards and birds as prey by Matses interviewees contrasts with an emphasis on mammals (especially rodents) in much of the jaguarundi dietary literature; because the latter is mostly based on observations from Central America and southeastern Brazil, it is possible that Amazonian populations are distinctive in this respect. Frugivory—not previously mentioned in the jaguarundi literature—is another dietary trait described by the Matses that may also be distinctively Amazonian. Alternatively, if jaguarundis consume only fruit pulp (without swallowing seeds), this dietary component may have been missed in published studies based on analyses of scat. Jaguarundis are the only cats that the Matses report to eat birds’ eggs and carrion.

Figures

FIG. 14. Adult skulls of five sympatric felid species, illustrating taxonomic differences in size and shape: Puma concolor (A, AMNH 73221), Pu. yagouaroundi (B, AMNH 215137), Leopardus wiedii (C, AMNH 74428), L. pardalis (D, MUSM 13150), Panthera onca (E, AMNH 98683). All illustrated specimens are from western South America, but only MUSM 13150 is from the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve. Old adult male skulls of Pa. onca and L. pardalis can be substantially larger and proportionately wider than the young adults illustrated here.