Osteophagia of sea turtle bones by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Santa Rosa National Park, northwestern Costa Rica

By

Morera, Brayan
Montalvo, Víctor
Sáenz-Bolaños, Carolina
Cruz-Díaz, Juan C.
Fuller, Todd K
Carrillo, Eduardo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2022-7-21

Original Publication

Neotropical Biology and Conservation

Volume

17

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

143--149

Subjects

bone chewing , Diet , Dry Forest , Food web , Minerals , nutrients , ungulate , ungulate bone chewing

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Brazil Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.17.e87274

 

Abstract

Herbivores obtain nutrients mostly from the vegetation they consume, but may obtain additional minerals during periods of nutritional stress by consuming bones (osteophagia), a behavioral strategy that has been reported for many wild ungulate species, including the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Here we document multiple records (n = 183 camera-trap records) of osteophagia by white-tailed deer chewing sea turtle remains (resulting from jaguar [Panthera onca] predation) near a nesting beach in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica during January-September 2017. Females with fawns, males with hard and velvet-covered antlers, and non-spotted fawns reached a peak of sea turtle bone consumption during June to August. We hypothesize that seasonality, sex, age, and individual growth stage influence the frequency of osteophagy as a strategy to cope with environmental changes and food resource scarcity. Finally, these observations highlight the role of an apex predator as indirectly influencing rare but important ecological processes.