Abstract
The significance of raptor predation has been repeatedly emphasized in studies on arboreal primates; however, there are few studies on the predation of primates by raptors in primate-rich forest environments. Among the raptor species, the crowned eagle in Africa is known to be a primate-predator. In this study, a video camera was set up at the nesting site of a crowned eagle pair in the Mahale Mountains National Park in Tanzania, and the prey species delivered to the nest by the pair were identified by analyzing the video footage. Of the 46 prey deliveries recorded during 4.5 months of recording in the nestling season, primates accounted for 26 cases, of which 16 were red-tailed monkeys, the most abundant primates in the area. No prey was clearly identified as red colobus, despite a seemingly high density of this monkey species. This result suggests that predation by the eagles was biased toward the red-tailed monkey in Mahale, whereas no such bias toward the same monkey species was reported in a previous study conducted in Kibale. Furthermore, among different predator species in Mahale, only the crowned eagle prey primarily on red-tailed monkeys. Although chimpanzees and leopards inhabiting the study area are also significant predators of monkeys, these two species prefer red colobus to red-tailed monkeys. This suggests that these two monkey species living in the same forest have different primary predatory threats.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boshoff AF, Palmer NG, Vernon CJ, Avery G (1994) Comparison of the diet of crowned eagles in the savanna and forest biomes of south-eastern South Africa. S Afr J Wildl Res 24:26–31
Brown LH (1966) Observations on some Kenya eagles. Ibis 108:531–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1966.tb07208.x
Brown LH (1972) Natural longevity in wild crowned eagles Stephanoaetvs coronatus. Ibis 114:263–265. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02611.x
Brown LH, Urban EK, Fry CH, Newman KB, Keith S (1997) The birds of Africa. Academic Press, Cambridge
Cheney DL, Wrangham RW (1987) Predation. In: Smuts BB, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham RW, Struhsaker TT (eds) Primate societies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 227–239
Enstam KL, Isbell LA (2007) The guenons (genus Cercopithecus) and their allies: behavioral ecology of polyspecific associations. In: Campbell CJ, Fuentes A, MacKinnon KC, Panger M, Bearder SK (eds) Primates in perspective. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 252–274
Fuller JL (2014) The vocal repertoire of adult male blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stulmanni): a quantitative analysis of acoustic structure. Am J Primatol 76:203–216. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.22223
Hosaka K (2015) Hunting and food sharing. In: Nakamura M, Hosaka K, Itoh N, Zamma K (eds) Mahale chimpanzees: 50 years of research. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 274–290
Hosaka K, Nakamura M, Takahata Y (2020) Longitudinal changes in the targets of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) hunts at Mahale mountains national park: how and why did they begin to intensively hunt red colobus (Piliocolobus rufomitratus) in the 1980s? Primates 61:391–401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-020-00803-8
Ihobe H (2015) Mammalian fauna. In: Nakamura M, Hosaka K, Itoh N, Zamma K (eds) Mahale chimpanzees: 50 years of research. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 195–212
Isbell LA, Bidner LR, Van Cleave EK, Matsumoto-Oda A, Crofoot MC (2018) GPS-identified vulnerabilities of savannah-woodland primates to leopard predation and their implications for early hominins. J Hum Evol 118:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.02.003
Itoh N, Nakamura M (2015) Mahale flora: its historical background and long-term changes. In: Nakamura M, Hosaka K, Itoh N, Zamma K (eds) Mahale chimpanzees: 50 years of research. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 150–173
Itoh N, Zamma K, Matsumoto T, Nishie H, Nakamura M (2015) Dietary list. In: Nakamura M, Hosaka K, Itoh N, Zamma K (eds) Mahale chimpanzees: 50 years of research. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 717–739
Jarvis MJF, Currie MH, Palmer NG (1980) Food of crowned eagles in the Cape Province, South Africa. Ostrich 51:215–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/00306525.1980.9633568
Kaneda H (2009) Prey selection and provisioning rate of a breeding pair of Hodgson’s hawk-eagles Nisaetus nipalensis. Ornithol Sci 8:151–156. https://doi.org/10.2326/osj.8.151
Kaneda H (2020) Breeding behaviour and diet of the crowned eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus in western Tanzania. Ostrich 91:57–63. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2019.1701577
Kingdon J (2015) The kingdon field guide to African mammals, 2nd edn. Bloomsbury Wildlife, London
Kirchhof J, Hammerschmidt K (2006) Functionally referential alarm calls in tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis and Saguinus mystax) – evidence from playback experiments. Ethology 112:346–354. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2006.01165.x
Leland L (1993) Teamwork tactics. Nat Hist 102:42–48
Lewis SB, Fuller MR, Titus K (2004) A comparison of 3 methods for assessing raptor diet during the breeding season. Wildl Soc Bull 32:373–385
Marti CD, Bechard M, Jaksic FM (2007) Food habits. In: Bildstein KL, Bird DM (eds) Raptor research and management techniques. Hancock House, Surrey, pp 129–152
McGraw WS, Cooke C, Shultz S (2006) Primate remains from African crowned eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus) nests in Ivory Coast’s Taï forest: implications for primate predation and early hominid taphonomy in South Africa. Am J Phys Anthropol 131:151–165. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20420
McPherson SC, Brown M, Downs CT (2016) Diet of the crowned eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus) in an urban landscape: potential for human-wildlife conflict? Urban Ecosyst 19:383–396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-015-0500-6
McPherson SC, Brown M, Downs CT (2017) Gender-related morphometric differences in mature and nestling crowned eagles, with comments on ringing of eagle nestlings in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Ostrich 88:1–6. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2016.1259185
Miller LE (2017) Predation. In: Fuentes A (ed) The international encyclopedia of primatology. John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, pp 1026–1030
Miller LE, Treves A (2007) Predation on primates: past studies, current challenges, and directions for future. In: Campbell CJ, Fuentes A, MacKinnon KC, Panger M, Bearder SK (eds) Primates in perspective. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 525–543
Mitani JC, Sanders WJ, Lwanga JS, Windfelder TL (2001) Predatory behavior of crowned hawk-eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) in Kibale national park, Uganda. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 49:187–195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650000283
Nakamura M, Itoh N (2015) Overview of the field site: Mahale mountains and their surroundings. In: Nakamura M, Hosaka K, Itoh N, Zamma K (eds) Mahale chimpanzees: 50 years of research. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 7–20
Nakazawa N (2020) Primates are an important food resource for leopards (Panthera pardus) in Mahale, Tanzania. Afr J Ecol 58:399–408. https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12714
Nishida T, Uehara S (1981) Kitongwe name of plants: a preliminary listing. Afr Stud Monogr 1:109–131
Papworth S, Böse AS, Barker J, Schel AM, Zuberbühler K (2008) Male blue monkeys alarm call in response to danger experienced by others. Biol Lett 4:472–475. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0299
Sanders WJ, Trapani J, Mitani JC (2003) Taphonomic aspects of crowned hawk-eagle predation on monkeys. J Hum Evol 44:87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2484(02)00196-3
Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Marler P (1980) Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science 14:801–803. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.7433999
Shultz S (2002) Population density, breeding chronology and diet of crowned eagles Stephanoaetus coronatus in Taï national park, Ivory coast. Ibis 144:135–138. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0019-1019.2001.00005.x
Shultz S, Noë R, McGraw WS, Dunbar RIM (2004) A community–level evaluation of the impact of prey behavioural and ecological characteristics on predator diet composition. Proc R Soc B 271:725–732. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2003.2626
Skorupa JP (1989) Crowned eagles Strephanoaetus coronatus in rainforest: observations on breeding chronology and diet at a nest in Uganda. Ibis 131:294–298. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1989.tb02773.x
Struhsaker TT (1981) Polyspecific associations among tropical rain-forest primates. Z Tierpsychol 57:268–304. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1981.tb01928.x
Struhsaker TT, Leakey M (1990) Prey selectivity by crowned hawk-eagles on monkeys in the Kibale forest, Uganda. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 26:435–443. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00170902
Swatridge CJ, Monadjem A, Steyn DJ, Batchelor GR, Hardy IC (2014) Factors affecting diet, habitat selection and breeding success of the African crowned eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus) in a fragmented landscape. Ostrich 85:47–55. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2014.896832
Symes CT, Antonites AR (2014) Notes on African crowned eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus diet in savanna and forest in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Ostrich 85:85–88. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2014.892036
Terborgh J (1990) Mixed flocks and polyspecific associations: costs and benefits of mixed groups to birds and monkeys. Am J Primatol 21:87–100. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.1350210203
Uehara S, Ihobe H (1998) Distribution and abundance of diurnal mammals, especially monkeys, at Kasoje, Mahale mountains, Tanzania. Anthropol Sci 106:349–369. https://doi.org/10.1537/ase.106.349
van Schaik CP, van Noordwijk MA, Warson B, Sutriono E (1983) Party size and early detection of predators in Sumatran forest primates. Primates 24:211–221. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02381083
Wheeler BC (2010) Production and perception of situationally variable alarm calls in wild tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella nigritus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64:989–1000. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0914-3
Zuberbühler K (2001) Predator-specific alarm calls in Campbell’s monkeys, Cercopithecus campbelli. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 50:414–422. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650100383
Acknowledgements
I thank the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, and Tanzania National Parks for permission to conduct the research at Mahale. I also thank Drs. Naofumi Nakagawa and Michio Nakamura for their discussions and comments on the manuscript. I express my gratitude to Dr. Hiroshi Kaneda for his advice on the observation of the eagles. I thank members of the Mahale Mountains Chimpanzee Research Project, Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies and Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, for their valuable comments. This work was financially supported by JSPS KAKENHI (#17KT0058 to Michio Nakamura).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
About this article
Cite this article
Seike, T. Frequent predation on primates by crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) in Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania. Primates 63, 327–333 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-022-00990-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-022-00990-6