The Story of the Puma and the Peccary

By Frances Figart

A so-called “camera trap” is a method that biologists use to study animals in the wild. A pair of motion-sensitive cameras is set across a pathway, and animals that cross between the cameras trigger a photograph. This allows a variety of species to be studied without introducing the stress of capture.

Our staff at Lapa Rios recently checked our camera trap on the Ridge Trail and found this amazing photo from last month of a Puma who had just caught a young White Collared Peccary. We have a lot of puma pictures at our reserve, but never before have we captured one on camera with its meal in its mouth. An hour later the camera recorded the rest of the peccary group moving on up the trail with one less pig in the pack.

According to the 2010 Field Guide to Wildlife of Costa Rica by Reid, Leenders, Zook and Dean, camera studies in Costa Rica have revealed some surprises: “Pumas, often considered very rare and local, have been found to be fairly common… Once thought solitary, it turns out that Pumas often travel in pairs.”

More about the Puma

One of the largest cats in the Americas, the puma is second in weight only to the jaguar. Adults are generally cinnamon to rufous brown with a white underside, but young pumas are spotted, and with subsequent molts their coloring gradually becomes more like that of adults. Until they are 6 months old, though, they can be difficult to tell from juveniles of the jaguar or other spotted cats.

The puma can tolerate habitats varying from temperate, coniferous forests to low, multistrata, and tropical rainforests. Ranging from British Columbia to Patagonia, the puma lives between elevations above 2,000 m. down to sea level. In Costa Rica, it can be seen at Corcovado National Park, Santa Rosa Park, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and may also be found in Cerro de la Muerte.

The tropical puma is smaller than its brother in temperate North America, most likely because it finds smaller prey in the Tropics. Still, the puma is an excellent hunter and athlete in the lower regions of its range: it can leap 16 feet into the air, and is a good climber even though it spends more time on the ground. The puma generally stalks its prey from behind, usually first attacking the back of the neck.

More about the Peccary

When born, White Collared Peccaries are reddish brown, but by adulthood they have gray-black skin covered in coarse hair that can be as long as 15.2 cm on the back. A distinct white strip around the neck makes them easily identified as "collared.'



Resourceful and versatile in many habitats, this peccary can survive in tropical rain forest, tropical deciduous forest, semidesert land, scrub forest, and some agricultural areas (where they are considered pests). Of North American ungulates, the collared peccary has one of the largest ranges, including from Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas down to Rio Plata in Argentina. Within Costa Rica they are present from sea level to at least 2,000 m. in elevation and can be seen in La Selva, Corcovado National Park, Santa Rosa National Park, and Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.

The peccary is very social and keeps hierarchical herds of three to thirty or more; in Costa Rica, the group size tends to stay between 2 and 15. Individuals within these groups sleep next to each other to keep warm, and are cohesive in their actions in general. Friendlier individuals rub each other, especially in greeting: each will rub its head against the scent gland on the back of the other. Peccaries make several vocalizations, including a loud bark, aggressive grumblings (especially when feeding in groups), warning tooth chattering, and purring.