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Agonistic behavior and feeding competition in the largest piranha species, Pygocentrus piraya, in a zoo

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Abstract

In the wild, piranhas are thought to feed in groups. Previous studies on piranhas in aquariums have variously observed either social attraction or aggressive dominance. The Rio São Francisco piranha (Pygocentrus piraya) is the largest species of piranha. It is rare in aquarium collections and its social and feeding behaviors have never been studied. To better understand behavior in this species, we observed a group of individuals housed in a zoo. We did not observe social attraction or grouping behavior. Individuals generally remained inactive except during aggressive interactions, or to consume food when available. They were organized in a weakly linear dominance hierachy. Dominant individuals performed more aggressive bouts and fewer retreats than subordinate individuals. We also found differences among individuals in the number of pieces consumed and in contesting other individuals for food. Social behavior in animals is known to vary plastically according to available space and number of competitors, and these factors might have influenced behavior in the current study. This study highlights the value of zoos for studying species that would otherwise be inaccessible, and it provides fundamental information that can later be used to enhance welfare of piranhas in aquariums.

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Acknowledgements

Julia Sugalski and Greg Bergquist collected preliminary data. George Buehner, Mark Rehling, and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Zoological Programs Division approved and accommodated the research. Parthasarathy Kalyanasundaram assisted with DLTdv7 software. Patrick Bonano provided feedback during the development of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA

    Ronald G. Oldfield, Josie E. Thal, Praanjal Das & Kristen E. Lukas

  2. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Nick J. Zarlinga & Kristen E. Lukas

  3. Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA

    Jason D. Wark

Authors
  1. Ronald G. Oldfield
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  2. Josie E. Thal
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  3. Praanjal Das
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  4. Nick J. Zarlinga
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  5. Kristen E. Lukas
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  6. Jason D. Wark
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Correspondence to Ronald G. Oldfield.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table A1 Post hoc comparisons (Mann–Whitney U tests) testing for significant differences between individuals in overall agonistic behavior
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Table A2 Post hoc comparisons (Mann–Whitney U tests) testing for significant differences between individuals in number of pieces of food consumed as a proportion of the number of pieces offered
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Table A3 Post hoc comparisons (Mann–Whitney U tests) testing for significant differences between individuals in the number of times an individual was involved in a contest with another individual over a piece of food
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Oldfield, R.G., Thal, J.E., Das, P. et al. Agonistic behavior and feeding competition in the largest piranha species, Pygocentrus piraya, in a zoo. J Ethol 41, 25–37 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-022-00763-0

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