Natural History Notes. Caiman latirostris (Broad-snouted caiman). Feeding.

PIÑA C.I.; LARRIERA A.

HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW

SSAR

Año: 2003 vol. 34 p. 56 - 56

0018-084X

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:TimesNewRoman; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"TimesNewRoman,Italic"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:ES; mso-fareast-language:ES;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> CAIMAN LATIROSTRIS (Broad-snouted Caiman). FEEDING. Caiman latirostris feeds on a wide variety of species, preying mostly on artropods (insects), snails, crabs, and frogs (Imhof, unpublished data). The species is an opportunistic predator (Magnusson et al., 1987, Journal Herpet. 21:85-95; Pooley, 1989, pp. 76-91. In: Ross, C.A. [Ed.]. Crocodiles and Alligators. Goldem Press. Silverwater, Australia), but feeding behavior of crocodilians depend on size (Delany & Abercrombie, 1986, Journal Wildl. Mgmt. 50:348-353) and mouth morphology (Singh & Bustard, 1982, British J. Herpet. 6:253-258). The wide and short shout of C. latirostris appears to be more adapted for crushing rather than for active hunting (Verdade et al., 1992, 1 pp.77-91. In: Verdade, L.M. & Lavorenti, A. [Eds.]. Anais do II Workshop sobre Conservação e Manejo do Jacaré-de-Papo-Amarelo (Caiman latirostris). ESALQ / USP, Piracicaba, Brasil). In November 1998 during a routine caimans night counting in estancia ‘El Estero’, Santa Fe, Argentina (S 30º 03’; W 59º 58’) we witnessed a rare passive feeding behavior that, as far as we know, has not been reported previously for the species. We observed a caiman (presumed to be an adult male because of its size) at the discharge of a dam, constructed for maintain water for cattle, allowing water to pass through its open mouth at the bottom of a water fall. We assumed it was waiting for a prey item to fall into its mouth. When prey fell intoits mouth the caiman closed its mouth. We observed this behavior many times. Similar observations were reported in Caiman yacare, (Schaller and Crawshaw, 1982, Copeia 2: 66-72) Alligator mississippiensis (King, el al., 1998, Available at: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/crocbiology/bartram.htm ) and Crocodylus niloticus (Pooley, 1989. pp. 76-91. In: C.A. Ross, ed. Crocodiles and Alligators. Golden Press, Silverwater, Australia), but all these observations involve more then one crocodilian fishing together as a ‘cooperative feeding’. This observation suggests that Caiman latirostris could have a diversity of feeding behaviors, other than the one reported by Diefenbach (1979, Copeia 1:162-163) that mentions C. latirostris digging on the bottom of water bodies to feed on gasteropods. Also, this observation confirms the occurrence of broad-snouted caiman for occupying and using man-made water structures. We thank A. Woodward and W. King for their comments and suggestions on the manuscript.