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Marine Turtle Newsletter 67:11-12, © 1994

Sea Turtles Attacked and Killed By Jaguars in Suriname

Louis Autar
Marine Turtle Conservation Program, Surinam Forest Service, P. O. Box 436, Paramaribo, Suriname

In 1963, the Bigisanti Beach in the Wia Wia Nature Reserve, Suriname, was the nesting site for four species of marine turtle: krapé (Chelonia mydas), aitkanti (Dermochelys coriacea), warana (Lepidochelys olivacea), and karèt (Eretmochelys imbricata). In August of that year, I went to Bigisanti for one week. There I found three dead turtles: two krapés and one aitkanti. They had all been killed by a jaguar. The aitkanti and one of the krapés had been dead for about a week, but the other krapé was still fresh. I noticed that the latter carcass was surrounded by black vultures (Coragyps atratus), and that this turtle still had eggs in her belly. I was curious and took the eggs out of the belly of the krapé. When I had put almost all of the eggs in the burlap bag I carried, the vultures suddenly flew off. I was squatting in order to collect the eggs, and I wondered what had frightened the birds. When I turned around, I saw a jaguar (Panthera onca) looking at me from a distance of about 2 m. Since I was squatting down, I felt trapped and hardly dared to move. I let the burlap bag with the eggs lie and, while still crouched, I moved backward centimeter by centimeter. I was fortunate that the jaguar stayed where it was, but it kept looking at me as I moved backward. The beach was some 60 m wide, and when I was about 5 m away from the jaguar I rose to my feet and ran for the sea. After about an hour and a half had passed, I returned to the dead krapé. I made a lot of noise, but the jaguar appeared again. I grabbed my burlap bag filled with eggs and ran away in the direction of my camp.

For several years after this incident, I kept records of the number of sea turtles attacked and killed by jaguars on the beaches of Suriname (n/r = not recorded that year):

I am certain that additional deaths occurred in 1973; however, carcasses were never found.

The problem has been a persistent one. Henri Reichart (Senior Technical Advisor, Surinam Forest Service) encountered 13 krapé killed at Galibi Beach (east of Bigisanti) within the span of a few days in 1980. From 1980-1981, approximately 200 three-year old krapés, being captive-reared in a creek at Matapica, were killed and eaten by two jaguars, one male and one female. Within a few weeks after discovering this, both jaguars were shot and killed. Krapé were found killed by jaguars at Galibi as recently as 1994 (H. Reichart, pers. comm.). The decision to kill a jaguar is never easy, but sometimes we are left without choices. Jaguars are protected from hunters in Suriname and their populations are believed to be healthy.