When more pumas (Puma concolor) do not change perception: The mismatched response of ranchers to the presence of a top carnivore. Raw data

We recorded information regarding their perceptions of puma presence, the potential danger pumas pose to livestock, livestock losses, and the need to control puma populations. In parallel, puma presene was surveyed and the potential distribution of the species in both periods was modelled using MaxEnt.

Statisticak analyses were afterwards done to determine whether predicted puma presence explained ranchers’ perceptions of pumas or any change in their perceptions over the course of the study. Puma distribution models predicted that the puma has expanded across the study area and that the likelihood of puma relative abundance within ranches increased over time. Despite this, ranchers did not change their perceptions of puma abundance or the losses they suffer from puma predation.