It is well documented that Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) feed extensively on plants and carrion, but their hunting habits remain understudied. Better understanding and documentation of Andean bear feeding ecology can improve conservation efforts for this vulnerable species. Here, we report an observation of an Andean bear hunting and capturing a wild guinea pig (Cavia aperea) in Chingaza National Natural Park, in Cundinamarca, Colombia. The sighting occurred in January 2023 by a team of conservationists, and we provided photographic evidence and details of the encounter. Our observation suggests that Andean bears are capable hunters of small rodents, indicating that hunting may play a more important role in the ecology of Andean bears than previously appreciated and highlighting the need for a better understanding of this feeding behaviour.

The aim of the present study was to report canid attacks on sea turtles in northeastern Brazil. The study was conducted on the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin coastline between March 2010 and October 2019. Injured-stranded sea turtles or carcasses were recorded through systematic beach monitoring. The specimens were submitted for clinical or postmortem assessments, providing evidence for the identification of injuries caused by canids. In the study period, 9841 stranded sea turtles were recorded, with the diagnosis of canid attacks in 55 (0.55%) events. Lepidochelys olivacea was the species with the largest number of events (90.90%), followed by Chelonia mydas (7.27%), and Caretta caretta (1.81%). The attacked sea turtles were clinically healthy, with a good body score and no apparent diseases; most were in the reproductive stage. The injuries were mainly found on the front flippers, with considerable loss of musculature affecting the brachial plexus, with the rupture of large blood vessels, and in some cases, exposure of the humerus or oesophagus. Thus, these events hampered the reproductive cycle, limiting the egg-laying process and preventing the hatching of hundreds of new turtles. Therefore, mitigating measures should be implemented, addressing the consequences of abandoning pets and their unsupervised presence on beaches.

Little is known about the effects of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on tropical insect communities, even though they are suffering rapid declines in complexity and stability due to climate change. We explore the impact of fluctuations in local climate imposed by ENSO on the performance of herbivore defences mediating enemy interactions. In a widespread rainforest edge community, we quantified the mortality caused by five enemy guilds on the immature stages of the herbivorous beetle, Acromis sparsa. ENSO was a significant determinant of beetle mortality. During warmer, drier El Niño years, the survival of beetles decreased. This was due to increased egg parasitism by wasps, which reduced hatching. Additionally, ant predation on beetle larvae increased. Flies and wasps were in competition for larval prey in wetter, cooler La Niña years. Experimental removal of maternal guards or chemical shields revealed which ENSO-related parameters predicted larval mortality. Guarding was most effective against social wasps in La Niña, whereas shields proved most effective in El Niño. Two ENSO-related defence–enemy breakdowns occurred: (1) decoupling whereby the efficacy of a narrow defensive adaptation was reduced to increase mortality, and (2) mismatching whereby the resistance of a narrow defensive adaptation against non-targeted enemies was further reduced to increase mortality. These results highlight that defence efficacy against natural enemies can vary predictably with biotic and abiotic environmental conditions. ENSO events will increase breakdowns in defence-mediated interactions, shifts in competition among enemies, and species loss.

Spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), is an invasive insect that was first detected in the United States in 2014 and feeds on a wide variety of plants, with economic impacts on the agricultural, ornamental, and timber industries. Part of what likely contributes to the success of L. delicatula in its invaded range is that it appears to be chemically defended by sequestering toxins from its host plant(s), which may deter predators in the introduced range. To determine the identity and behavior of North American predators that feed on spotted lanternfly, we performed a community science study in which we asked members of the public to contribute reports of animals feeding on spotted lanternfly through a Facebook page. The largest group of reported predators was arthropods followed by birds. Araneae was the arthropod order with the most reports and Phasianidae was the most frequently reported bird family. Using Pearson's χ2 tests, we also identified significant relationships between predator behavior and (1) taxonomic group of the predator, (2) L. delicatula life stage, and (3) host plant L. delicatula was observed on. These results can help to guide future research on predator host shifting to spotted lanternfly and potential for biocontrol as a management tactic.

The success of translocation as a management tool is based on reversing the factors that led to a population becoming threatened or locally extinct. We assessed whether translocating a jaguar Panthera onca into the surroundings of a protected area in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest with a resident jaguar population was effective. We captured a male jaguar in an urban area where there were no substantiated previous records of jaguars. In the capture area only one predation event had been recorded, when the jaguar killed several chickens a few days before capture. After capture we translocated the jaguar to a forested area 240 km from the capture site, adjacent to the Rio Doce State Park. To investigate whether the potential geographical origin of the individual was any nearby fragment of the Atlantic Forest or nearby fragments of the Cerrado ecoregion, we genotyped it for 12 microsatellite loci and compared the results to a database developed previously. We fitted the jaguar with a GPS/VHF collar from which we recovered 2.5 months of data. Post-release monitoring with camera traps indicated the jaguar established residence within the region of the Park and we recorded no events of predation on livestock. The genetic analysis indicated that the jaguar resembled individuals from the Inner Atlantic Forest, Cerrado and Amazon. Translocation was an important tool for avoiding potentially negative interactions between the jaguar and local people, and may have benefitted the jaguar population at the release site.

We tested the effectiveness of predation by the cyclopoid copepod Mesocyclops longisetus (Thiébaud, 1912) in Culicidae and Chironomidae larvae, aiming to test if (i) the introduction of copepods effectively controls mosquito larvae and (ii) the density of copepods is important for ensuring control. We conducted two semi-field experiments: the first involved 14 experimental runs over 75 consecutive days, compared in a randomized block design, four repetitions per treatment in each experimental run (block); and the second experiment involved a total of five experimental runs, lasting 25 and 33 days each. In the first experiment, culicid larvae were preyed on by copepods, especially at high copepod densities (15 copepods per litre), which reduced culicid densities by approximately 61% and 64% for different containers, considering that the environmental temperature declined linearly by about 10ºC from February (summer) to May (autumn) (32ºC to 22ºC). Even the lowest copepod density (5 per liter) produced a substantial reduction in the abundance of culicid larvae when chironomid larvae were abundant. On the other hand, there was no effective control of chironomid larvae. In the second experiment, increases in Culicidae and Chironomidae were concomitant with decreases in copepods. Thus, when the copepods were in high densities, there was no increase in insects, although the larvae of culicids were not eliminated from the experimental units. We conclude that the introduction of copepods in small containers and ponds can be useful for the control of culicid larvae without harming chironomid populations, and densities up to 15 per litre are recommended, although even low densities cause substantial reduction.

Malformed trilobite specimens present important insight into understanding how this extinct arthropod group recovered from developmental or moulting malfunctions, pathologies, and injuries. Previously documented examples of malformed trilobite specimens are often considered in isolation, with few studies reporting on multiple malformations in the same species. Here we report malformed specimens of the ellipsocephaloid trilobite Estaingia bilobata from the Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Ten malformed specimens exhibiting injuries, pathologies, and a range of teratologies are documented. Furthermore, five examples of mangled exoskeletons are presented, indicative of predation on E. bilobata. Considering the position of malformed and normal specimens of E. bilobata in bivariate space, we demonstrate that the majority of malformed specimens cluster among the larger individuals. Such specimens may exemplify larger forms successfully escaping predation attempts, but could equally represent individuals exhibiting old injuries that were made during earlier (smaller) growth stages that have healed through subsequent moulting events. The available evidence from the Emu Bay Shale suggests that this small, extremely abundant trilobite likely played an important role in the structure of the local ecosystem, occupying a low trophic level and being preyed upon by multiple durophagous arthropods. Furthermore, the scarcity of malformed E. bilobata specimens demonstrates how rarely injuries, developmental malfunctions, and pathological infestations occurred within the species.

To use behaviours as indicators of stress it is important to understand their underlying causation. For a prey animal in the wild, such as a sheep, behavioural responses have evolved to evade detection and capture by predators. The behavioural responses of the wild ancestors of domestic sheep to the threat of predation are characterised predominantly by vigilance, flocking, flight to cover and behavioural inhibition once refuge has been reached. Some limited defensive behaviours are seen, mainly in females with young against small predators. Vigilance and flight distance are affected by the animal's assessment of risk and are influenced by the environment, social group size, age, sex and reproductive condition, as well as by previous experience with potential predators. Under conditions of stress, domestic sheep show similar behavioural reactions to wild sheep, although the threshold at which they are elicited may be elevated. This is particularly evident when comparing less selected hill breeds with more highly selected lowland breeds, and suggests that a continuum of responsiveness exists between wild and feral sheep, through hill breeds to the lowland sheep breeds. However, this may be confounded by the previous experience of the breeds, particularly their familiarity with humans. Behavioural and neurobiological evidence suggests that, although the behavioural response to predators (vigilance, flight) is innate, the stimuli that elicit this behavioural pattern may have a learned component. Since vigilance and flight distances are affected by the animal's perception of threat, they may be useful indices of stress in sheep and, as graded responses, give some indication of the level of threat experienced by the sheep. Thus they may indicate the amount of fear or distress experienced by the sheep and hence have the potential to be used in the assessment of welfare states.

Predator–prey dynamics are an important aspect of community ecology, but predation events are often difficult to observe. Among African primates, observations of mammal predation are particularly uncommon and generally restricted to a few ape and cercopithecoid species. I report five observations of mammal predation by golden-bellied mangabeys (Cercocebus chrysogaster) living in rainforest at the LuiKotale study site, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Over 46 all-day follows, mangabeys from one group caught and consumed four duikers (Cephalophinae spp.) and one Alexander’s cusimanse (Crossarchus alexandri). Individuals begged from the feeding individual in three of five observations. I observed one successful attempt at begging, which resulted in an adult female tolerating removal of blue duiker by a juvenile. These are the first detailed observations of mammal predation and food sharing by Cercocebus mangabeys and suggest mammals that feed alongside mangabeys may balance predation risk against social foraging benefits. Food sharing is rarely observed in most cercopithecine monkeys and could provide a useful metric to examine socio-ecological patterns of food acquisition.

Two introduced carnivores, the European red fox Vulpes vulpes and domestic cat Felis catus, have had extensive impacts on Australian biodiversity. In this study, we collate information on consumption of Australian birds by the fox, paralleling a recent study reporting on birds consumed by cats. We found records of consumption by foxes on 128 native bird species (18% of the non-vagrant bird fauna and 25% of those species within the fox’s range), a smaller tally than for cats (343 species, including 297 within the fox’s Australian range, a subset of that of the cat). Most (81%) bird species eaten by foxes are also eaten by cats, suggesting that predation impacts are compounded. As with consumption by cats, birds that nest or forage on the ground are most likely to be consumed by foxes. However, there is also some partitioning, with records of consumption by foxes but not cats for 25 bird species, indicating that impacts of the two predators may also be complementary. Bird species ≥3.4 kg were more likely to be eaten by foxes, and those <3.4 kg by cats. Our compilation provides an inventory and describes characteristics of Australian bird species known to be consumed by foxes, but we acknowledge that records of predation do not imply population-level impacts. Nonetheless, there is sufficient information from other studies to demonstrate that fox predation has significant impacts on the population viability of some Australian birds, especially larger birds, and those that nest or forage on the ground.

It may be possible, now or in the future, for humans to technologically intervene to reduce the amount of suffering experienced by wild animals. There is a debate about whether, if humans can do this, they should. Here, I consider the implications for this debate of the theological claim that humans have been granted dominion over the other animals. I argue that it's more plausible to interpret the dominion claim as granting humans (i) the responsibility to care for the well-being of individual animals than to interpret it as giving humans either (ii) the right to do whatever they want to other animals or (iii) the responsibility to care only for the well-being of aggregates of animals (such as whole species). I then show how this understanding of dominion undermines a range of arguments against intervening to reduce wild animal suffering. These arguments claim that humans do not stand in the right sort of relationship for intervention to be obligatory (or perhaps even permissible). But if we possess such dominion, we do stand in the right sort of relationship for it to be obligatory.