New findings from a landmark study
A December 2025 publication in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals a remarkable change in puma (Puma concolor) behavior in Argentina. After decades during which local ranchers hunted pumas and restricted their geographic range, the predator has altered its approach to territory, prey, and social interaction. The study documents a multi-faceted shift that could redefine how large carnivores adapt when traditional landscapes are fragmented or disrupted by human activity.
The researchers conducted long-term field observations, camera trap data, and analyses of scat and prey availability across several provinces in Argentina. What emerges is not a simple movement of animals to new locales, but a reorganization of daily routines, hunting strategies, and even social signaling among puma populations. The team emphasizes that this shift is not uniform; it varies by subregion, season, and the presence of alternative prey species, suggesting a flexible behavioral repertoire in pumas that could help them cope with rapid environmental change.
Territorial dynamics and spatial rearrangement
Historically, pumas in this part of South America were primarily solitary hunters, maintaining extensive home ranges that overlapped with ranching activities. As ranchers increased pressure, pumas retreated to more remote habitats or adapted to corridors that offered cover and escape routes. The new study finds that some pumas are adopting altered movement patterns, with fewer long-distance treks and more frequent, shorter excursions into patches of suitable habitat. This reallocation appears to reduce direct encounters with human activity while maintaining access to essential prey bases.
In addition to changes in ranging, pumas appear to be altering their social signaling. While always largely solitary, subadult pumas and neighboring individuals now seem to communicate more through scent marking and quieter vocalizations, potentially reducing the risk of conflict with humans while maintaining social information networks within dispersed populations. The researchers describe this as a form of “neighborhood cohesion,” allowing pumas to share information about prey availability without engaging in overt encounters that could lead to fatal outcomes.
Dietary shifts and prey web rebalancing
The study highlights an adaptive shift in diet linked to the altered landscape. With traditional large ungulates and livestock being less predictable in certain zones, pumas are expanding their prey palate to include smaller mammals, birds, and temporarily abundant species such as feral rodents or wild small ungulates that survive in mixed-use landscapes. This dietary plasticity underscores the predator’s capacity to exploit transient resources and adjust to fluctuating prey communities that result from land use change and predator–human dynamics.
Experts caution that these shifts come with potential consequences for ecosystems. A change in prey selection can cascade through the food web, affecting competitor species and mesopredator dynamics. The researchers stress the need for continued monitoring to understand how long these behavioral changes persist and whether they translate into lasting ecological outcomes, such as altered vegetation pressure, scavenger dynamics, or shifts in scavenging rates that influence carcass availability for other carnivores.
Implications for conservation and policy
What makes these findings particularly significant is their implication for conservation strategies. If pumas can adjust behaviorally to human-modified landscapes, management plans may benefit from prioritizing habitat connectivity, reducing conflict zones, and promoting coexistence measures that acknowledge the species’ behavioral flexibility. The study also raises questions about the role of legal protection and enforcement in shaping predator behavior in rural Argentina, where land use continues to evolve with agricultural demands and cattle production.
Ultimately, this research offers a nuanced portrait of a top predator that can recalibrate its social and ecological interactions in response to human pressures. As the authors note, the ability to form new interactions within and across populations may be a critical factor in the resilience of large carnivores facing rapid environmental changes.
What comes next?
Researchers plan to expand the study by incorporating genomic data, longer time series, and collaboration with local communities to track long-term outcomes. The goal is to build predictive models that help policymakers anticipate how pumas and other predators may respond to continued habitat alteration and management practices in Argentina and beyond.
