COMPORTAMIENTO DE FORRAJEO EN NUTRIAS GIGANTES (Pteronura brasiliensis), UN ESTUDIO DE CASO EN SANTA ROSA DE SAPUARA, DEPARTAMENTO DE GUAINÍA, COLOMBIA.

The feeding behavior in the giant otter (Ptero-nura brasiliensis) has been described by several authors, however, the coordinated way in which the otter takes part in the hunting and obtains his feeding, has not been studied in detail. This paper systematizes the information of observations on the hunting behavior of Pteronura brasiliensis, in the Sapuara lagoon in the department of Guanía, Colombia, and allowed to describe hunting as a cooperative and highly organized behavior. This behavior has been studied through ad-libitum observations, from rocks and trees of 10 to 20 meters high with a horizontal viewing range of 110°. Some of the parameters analyzed were fishing strategy, type of shore, time spent on fishing, number of active otters (otters that participated in the fishing), depth, climatic conditions, and effectiveness of hunting. In the end, 11 cooperative fishing behaviors were observed, which were classified into three groups: Arrowhead, ranks and rounding. The most frequent of all those observed in farm work was arrowhead with a percentage of 38 %, with an average number of 7 otters participating in the hunt and with a success rate of up to 87 %. This is a new instrument for the approach of the study of the behavior of P. brasiliensis from the cooperative perspective of hunting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]