To What Extent Do Human Activities Influence the Crepuscular Behaviors of Jaguars (Panthera onca)
Keywords:
Jaguars, Crepuscular, Belize Cockscomb Basin, Pearson CorrelationAbstract
As dusk animals, jaguars follow crepuscular living patterns. The aim of this investigation is to identify the extent of the correlation between human activities and the crepuscular behaviors of jaguars. This study uses only secondary data to create indexes reflecting each factor in Belize's Cockscomb Basin. Based on Pearson correlation, the overall extent of correlation between human activities and the crepuscular living patterns of jaguars is 0.2672. However, in high-disturbance areas, the extent of correlation between the two aforementioned factors is 0.9252, while in low-disturbance areas, the extent of correlation is 0.1688. These findings support the conclusion that in areas with high human disturbance, the correlation between human activities and jaguars' crepuscular behaviors is extremely strong, while the correlation remains weak in low-disturbance areas.
References
González C., Medellin D., Urios V., Zarza H., & Ceballos G. Movement ecology of jaguars and predator-prey interactions. 2021.
Meißner R., Blumer M., Weiß M., Beukes M., Ledezma G., Callisaya Y., & Jansen J. Habitat destruction threatens jaguars in a mixed land-use region of eastern Bolivia. [Oryx], 2023, 58(1): 110-120.
Figel J., Botero-Cañola S., Sánchez-Londoño J., & Racero-Casarrubia J. Jaguars and pumas exhibit distinct spatiotemporal responses to human disturbances in Colombia's most imperiled ecoregion. [Journal of Mammalogy], 2021, 102(1): 333-345.
Darimont C., Fox C., Bryan H., & Reimchen T. The unique ecology of human predators. Science, 2015, 349(6250): 858-860.
Clinchy M., Zanette L.Y., Roberts D., Suraci J.P., Buesching C.D., Newman C., Macdonald D.W. Fear of the human “super predator” far exceeds the fear of large carnivores in a model mesocarnivore. Behavioral Ecology, 2016, 27(6): 1826-1832.
Smith J., Suraci J., Clinchy M., Crawford A., Roberts D., Zanette L., & Wilmers C. Fear of the human 'super predator' reduces feeding time in large carnivores. Proceedings of The Royal Society B, 2017, 284(1857): 20170433.
Friedeberg-Gutiérrez D., López-González C., Lara-Díaz N., MacKenzie D., Cruz A., & Hidalgo-Mihart R. Landscape patterns in the occupancy of jaguars (Panthera onca) and their primary prey species in a disturbed region of the Selva Maya in Mexico. Mammalia, 2022, 86(5): 483-496.
Barrientos R., Vickers W., Longcore T., Abelson E., Dellinger J., Waetjen D., Fandos G., & Shilling F. Nearby night lighting, rather than sky glow, is associated with habitat selection by a top predator in human-dominated landscapes. Phylosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B, 2023, 378(1892): 20220370.
Silver S., Ostro L., Marsh L., Maffei L., Noss A., Kelly M., Wallace R., Gómez H., & Ayala G. The use of camera traps for estimating jaguar Panthera onca abundance and density using capture/recapture analysis. Oryx, 2004, [38](2): 148-154.
Harmange C., Teles T.S., Ribeiro D.B., Costa A.M., Godoi M.N., Pays O. Consequences of modelling procedures on detecting environmental effects on species distribution from camera-trap data: implications for wildlife conservation. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 2025, 41:e26.
Palencia P., Rowcliffe J.M., Vicente J., Acevedo P. Assessing the camera trap methodologies used to estimate density of unmarked populations. Journal of applied ecology, 2022, 58(8): 1583-1592.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 by the authors.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
