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Cannibalism by Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) at a small tropical archipelago

Felipe Machado Neves, Patrícia Luciano Mancini, Fernanda Pinto Marques, Guilherme Tavares Nunes, Leandro Bugoni

Abstract


Cannibalism is the total or partial consumption of a conspecific’s body or eggs, and it has been reported for many bird taxa, particularly carnivorous, colonial species, and those species that ingest fragmented prey. Here we report cannibalism by Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) at Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, offshore Brazil. We discussed possible causes for this behavior such as opportunistic feeding, colony sanitation and space competition for nesting places. 


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