Puma Behaviour Changed by the Presence of Penguins  

Puma were forced out of Patagonia, Argentina, by farmers at the beginning of the 20^th century. The big cats have started to make their way back into the area following the establishment of the Monte Leon National Park. However, the Patagonian ecosystem has drastically changed in the absence of predators, with species such as Magellanic penguins taking advantage of reduced hunting pressure. 

Previously confined to offshore islands, the penguins have established a mainland colony of an estimated 40,000 breeding pairs. As the puma returned, researchers began to notice penguin remains in their poo – the puma were indulging in the new food source. Interestingly, their behavioural patterns also changed.  

“Restoring wildlife in today’s changed landscapes doesn’t simply rewind ecosystems to the past,” Mitchell Serota, an ecologist at Duke Farms in New Jersey told journalist Skyler Ware. “It can create entirely new interactions that reshape animal behaviour and populations in unexpected ways.” 

Interested in this new fad penguin-tarian diet, researchers set up cameras across a 1.2 mile stretch of beach to study puma that lived near the penguin colony. They also tracked 14 individual puma with GPS collars, and investigated penguin kill sites. Nine of the puma they tracked hunted penguins, while the other five did not. 

The study found that the hunting range of penguin-eating puma was much more varied compared to puma that only ate traditional prey. When the birds returned from the sea to breed, the penguin-eating puma stuck close to the colony. But when the penguins migrated offshore during summer, they ranged about twice as far as other puma. 

Penguin-eaters also interacted with each other significantly more than expected. The researchers documented a total of 254 encounters between pumas that ate penguin, with most of these meetings occurring within 0.6 miles of the penguin colony. This is surprising as big cats are known for their solitary nature. In contrast, they documented only 4 encounters between pumas that did not eat penguin. 

Usually, adult puma are highly territorial, and must establish large, solitary hunting ranges to secure enough prey for themselves and their offspring. Researchers theorise that penguin-eating puma were more tolerant of other puma because their food source was so plentiful that they did not have to compete for a meal. 

Studying the behaviour of reintroduced apex predators, like puma, allows us to understand how a changed ecosystem functions and is essential for future conservation planning. 

Apex predators are vital keystone species, occupying the position at the top of the food chain. Their presence is essential for a healthy ecosystem. As Patagonian puma tracker, Ricardo Muza, explained to reporter Shafik Meghji, “When a puma kills a guanaco, everybody eats – you see the carcass being fed on by condors, caracaras, foxes, armadillos, and other scavengers.” 

The change in diet of puma in Patagonia is likely to have other unexpected impacts on the food chain. Serota says the next step for his team is to investigate the effects of penguin-eating on other prey species such as the guanaco – a herbivore closely related to llamas and alpaca, and the traditional prey of puma in the region.  

By Marina Milsum, January 22, 2026.  

Edited by Eloise Trawick, Kazuma Oura.