Does the Southern Green Anaconda, Eunectes murinus, seek areas of high prey concentration in southeastern Peru?

Champagne, Patrick S.; Herman, Thomas B.; Rosolie, Paul; Singer, Dylan; Horton, Dan; Payne, Carter J.; Dablin, Lucy; Colville, David; Cardenas, Julio; Quevedo, Miryam; Avery, Trevor and Pitman, Renata Leite (2024). Does the Southern Green Anaconda, Eunectes murinus, seek areas of high prey concentration in southeastern Peru? Food Webs, 39, article no. e00348.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2024.e00348

Abstract

Although behavior of E. murinus was broadly described over a century ago, observations of predation by E. murinus are rare. Some evidence suggests that it may target sites when hunting. We report details of six livestock depredation events at a single locality near Puerto Maldonado, Peru. Additionally, we compare positions of three radio-tagged snakes with known locations of mineral licks in their home ranges and describe the relationship of a single radio-tagged individual with game trails. Our observations of predation at mineral licks, and the association of radio-tagged individuals with them, suggest that E. murinus may specifically target mineral licks due to high prey concentration. We believe this is the first report of a reptile actively seeking prey at mineral licks. Our observations indicate that E. murinus actively seeks areas with higher prey concentration.

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