Mountain lions preyselectively on mule deer infected with chronic wasting disease

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Biology Letters

Volume

6

Issue

2

Publisher

The Royal Society

Publication Date

4-23-2010

First Page

209

Last Page

211

Abstract

The possibility that predators choose prey selectively based on age or condition has been suggested but rarely tested. We examined whether mountain lions (Puma concolor) selectively prey upon mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) infected with chronic wasting disease, a prion disease. We located kill sites of mountain lions in the northern Front Range of Colorado, USA, and compared disease prevalence among lion-killed adult (2 years old) deer with prevalence among sympatric deer taken by hunters in the vicinity of kill sites. Hunter-killed female deer were less likely to be infected than males (odds ratios (OR) 5 0.2, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 5 0.1 –0.6; p 5 0.015). However, both female (OR 5 8.5, 95% CI 5 2.3 –30.9) and male deer (OR 5 3.2, 95% CI 5 1 –10) killed by a mountain lion were more likely to be infected than samesex deer killed in the vicinity by a hunter (p < 0.001), suggesting that mountain lions in this area actively selected prion-infected individuals when targeting adult mule deer as prey items.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS