Belentani, Sonia Cristina da Silva

Motta-Junior, José Carlos

Talamoni, Sônia Aparecida

English

PUCRS Portal de Periodicos

BIOCIÊNCIAS, Porto Alegre, v. 13, n. 1, p. 95-98, jun. 2005NOTAS CIENTÍFICAS – RESENHASNOTES ON THE FOOD HABITS AND PREY SELECTION OF THEMANED WOLF (Chrysocyon brachyurus) (MAMMALIA, CANIDAE)IN SOUTHEASTERN BRAZILThe largest living South American canid, themaned wolf, Chrysocyon brachyurus (Illiger, 1811) islisted as “near threatened” by IUCN (IUCN 2003).This species inhabits grassland savannahs (“cerrado”)of central South America (LANGGUTH, 1975;DIETZ, 1984; MEDEL; JAKSIC, 1988). Despite theecological studies of Dietz (1984) and MOTTA-JUNIOR et al. (1996) little is known about preybiomass consumption and prey selection of the manedwolf (MEDEL; JAKSIC, 1988). Besides, a detaileddescription of the diet of the maned wolf, the aim ofthis study was to verify a previous hypothesis aboutthe opportunistic feeding behaviour of this canid(DIETZ, 1984; MOTTA-JUNIOR et al., 1996).The study was carried out at Parque Florestal Sal-to e Ponte I (19°12’ S, 48°08’ W), 13 km northeast ofthe town Prata in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil.This area is a farmland with a total area of 797 ha,covered mostly with young Pinus caribaea (var.hondurensis Barr. et Golf.) plantation and an extensiveunderstory of Brachiaria sp. grass. Patches of naturalvegetation also occur, including “cerrado”, galleryforest and Mauritia flexuosa L. palm groves in thevalleys, on permanently marshy ground. Virtually allsurrounding areas are covered with cerrado which isused as pasture for cattle. The climate is Köppen´s Aw,or tropical with a marked dry season. A more detaileddescription of vegetation cover in the region of studycan be found in Goodland; Ferri (1979).The diet was studied by analysis of 46 scatscollected bimonthly between May 1992 and April1993. Remains of crania, mandibles, feathers, chitinsand seeds were used to identify and count food itemsthrough comparison with a reference collection fromthe study area. Whenever possible food items wereidentified to the species level. Some identificationswere made by specialists in museums and herbaria.The diet was quantitatively described by: (1) fre-quency of occurrence of an item as a function of totaloccurrences of all items (DIETZ, 1984); (2) minimumnumber of individual animal prey (EMMONS, 1987);and (3) estimated biomass consumption (MOTTA-JUNIOR et al., 1996). The average number of seedsper fruit species was compared with the number ofseeds in scats to estimate the number of fruitsconsumed and their biomass (CASTRO et al., 1994).Prey biomasses were estimated by counting theminimum number of individuals in scats and thenmultiplying this number by the mean body mass ofeach species at the study site (EMMONS, 1987).The abundance of small mammals (< 2,000 g) wasevaluated by a total trapping effort of 1,440 trap-nights. Forty snap-traps (16.5×9.0 cm) and 20 live-traps (40×20×20 cm) were placed in lines, spaced10 m apart, covering all four habitats in the study area.The bait used was a mixture of peanut butter, sardineand banana, with traps being checked early in themorning. Animals were bimonthly trapped for fourconsecutive nights, totalling six months of field worksimultaneous to scat collection.Prey selection analysis was performed through acontingency table procedure (ZAR, 1999), in whichabsolute observed frequencies of small mammals inthe diet were compared with absolute frequencies(expected) of these species in the study area, derivedfrom trapping results (JAKSIC, 1989).The analysis of faecal samples revealed at least29 species or morphospecies of food items includingfruits, grass leaves and animals (Appendix). Thissupports previous reports on the omnivorous manedwolf´s diet (DIETZ, 1984; MEDEL; JAKSIC, 1988).Small rodents and Solanum lycocarpum St. Hill. fruitsyielded the bulk of the diet by frequency of occurrencewith 40.7% and 26.2%, respectively (Table 1). A si-milar pattern was found when biomass consumptionis considered, but fruits of S. lycocarpum were themost important item (Table 1). In general, the resultsare in accordance with other studies (DIETZ, 1984;96 BELENTANI, S. C. da S.; MOTTA-JUNIOR, J. C. & TALAMONI, S. A.BIOCIÊNCIAS, Porto Alegre, v. 13, n. 1, p. 95-98, jun. 2005MOTTA-JUNIOR et al., 1996; ARAGONA; SETZ,2001; SANTOS; SETZ; GOBBI, 2003), except thatarmadillos were poorly represented in the biomassanalysis as in Juarez; Marinho-Filho, 2002.In spite of their large body size (around 23 kg)the maned wolf feeds heavily on small vertebratesweighing between 10 and 100 g, mostly representedby rodents (Table 1). A possible explanation is relatedto the solitary habits of this canid species (DIETZ,1984). The most important food items found in thisstudy, which occur in grasslands and savannahs(cerrado sensu lato), were the rodent species Calomysspp., Bolomys lasiurus (Lund, 1841), Pseudoryzomyssimplex (Winge, 1887), and the fruits from S.lycocarpum. These findings are in accordance withresults from another locality in central Brazil(MOTTA-JUNIOR et al., 1996), suggesting that cer-rado vegetation is very important for the maintenanceof this canid.There was a highly significant difference betweenavailability (total number of captured individuals = 74)and predation of small mammals by the maned wolf(χ2 = 388.36; d.f. = 6; P < 0.001; Table 2). This resultwas accounted for by the apparent selection of theterrestrial Calomys spp. and P. simplex (EISENBERG;REDFORD, 1999), and a lower consumption ofB. lasiurus, Oxymycterus delator (Thomas, 1903),Lutreolina crassicaudata (Desmarest, 1804),Didelphis albiventris (Lund, 1840) and Oryzomysaff. subflavus (Wagner, 1842) than expected by chance(Table 2). The partially diurnal habit of B. lasiurus(VIEIRA; BAUMGARTEN, 1995; EISENBERG;REDFORD, 1999), semi-fossorial habit of O. delator(HERSHKOVITZ, 1994) and scansorial habit ofD. albiventris and O. subflavus (ALHO; VILLELA,1984; FONSECA et al., 1996; MOTTA-JUNIOR,2000) perhaps accounted for the differential vul-nerability to predation of these species. It is suggested,therefore, that terrestrial species are more vulnerableto predation than scansorial or semi-fossorial ones;they can possibly escape more easily from thecursorial maned wolf. Presumably many individualsof B. lasiurus were trapped during the day, when thewolves are virtually inactive (DIETZ, 1984). However,there are only scattered and qualitative data on thesesmall mammal species. An alternative explanation re-lates to methodological caveats regarding preyabundance which is used as “prey availability”, whichis not necessarily true (JAKSIC, 1989). More detaileddata on behavioural, ecological and physical attributesof prey species are needed to give a better explanationof the selective diet of the maned wolf (CORLEYet al., 1995).ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe thank A. W. Faber-Castell for logistic and financial support.Robert J. Young, Adriano G. Chiarello and Adriana A. Buenoreviewed an earlier version of the manuscript. Alexandre Percequilloand Julio A. Lombardi identified some small mammals and plants,respectively.REFERENCESALHO, C. J. R.; VILLELA, O. M. M. Scansorial ability inOryzomys eliurus and O. subflavus (Rodentia: Cricetidae) fromthe Cerrado. Revista Brasileira de Biologia, São Carlos, v. 44,p. 403-408, 1984.ARAGONA M.; SETZ, E. Z. F. Diet of the maned wolf,Chrysocyon brachyurus (Mammalia: Canidae), during wet anddry seasons at Ibitipoca State Park, Brazil. Journal of Zoology,London., v. 254, p. 131-136, 2001.CASTRO, S. A.; SILVA, S. I.; MESERVE, P. L.; GUTIERREZ,J. R.; CONTRERAS, L. C.; JAKSIC, F. M. Frugivoría ydispersión de semillas de pimiento (Schinus molle) por el zorroculpeo (Pseudalopex culpaeus) en el Parque Nacional Fray Jorge(IV Región, Chile). Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, San-tiago, v. 67, p. 169-176, 1994.CORLEY, J. C.; FERNANDEZ, G. J.; CAPURRO, A. F.;NOVARO, A. J.; FUNES, M. C.; TRAVAINI, A. Selection ofcricetine prey by the Culpeo fox in Patagônia: a differentialprey vulnerability hypothesis. Mammalia, Paris, v. 59, n. 3,p. 315-325, 1995.DIETZ, J. M. Ecology and social organization of the manedwolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus). Smithsonian Contribution toZoology, Washington, v. 392, p. 1-51, 1984.EISENBERG, J. F.; REDFORD, K. H. Mammals of theNeotropics. The central neotropics, vol. III. Chicago: TheUniversity of Chicago Press, 1999. 609 p.EMMONS, L.H. Comparative feeding ecology of felids in aneotropical rainforest. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology,New York, v. 20, p. 271-283, 1987.FONSECA, G. A. B.; HERMANN, G.; LEITE, Y.; MITTER-MEIER, R.; RYLANDS, A.; PATTON, J. Lista anotada dos ma-míferos do Brasil. Conservation International and FundaçãoBiodiversitas. Occasional papers in Conservation Biology,Washington, v. 4, p. 1-38, 1996.GOODLAND, R; FERRI, M. G. Ecologia do cerrado. Belo Ho-rizonte: Editora Itatiaia, 1979. 193 p.HERSHKOVITZ, P. The description of a new species of SouthAmerican hocicudo or long-nose mouse, Genus Oxymycterus(Sigmodontinae, Muroidea), with a critical review of the genericcontent. Fieldiana Zoology, Chigaco, v 79, p. 1-43, 1994.IUCN 2003. 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.<www.redlist.org>.JAKSIC, F. M. Opportunism vs. selectivity among carnivorouspredators that eat mammalian prey: a statistical test of hypotheses.Oikos, Kobenhavn, v. 56, p. 427-430, 1989.97Notes on the food habits an prey selection of the maned wolf ...BIOCIÊNCIAS, Porto Alegre, v. 13, n. 1, p. 95-98, jun. 2005JUAREZ, K. M.; MARINHO-FILHO, J. Diet, habitat use, andhome ranges of sympatric canids in Central Brazil. Journal ofMammalogy, Baltimore, v. 83, p. 925-933, 2002.LANGGUTH, A. Ecology and evolution in the South Americancanids. In: Fox, M.W. (Ed.). The wild canids: their systematics,behavioral ecology and evolution. New York: Van NostrandReinhold Co, 1975. p. 192-206.MEDEL, R. G.; JAKSIC, F. M. Ecología de los cánidossudamericanos: una revisión. Revista Chilena de Historia Na-tural, Santiago, v. 61, p. 67-79, 1988.MOTTA-JUNIOR, J. C. Variação temporal e seleção de presas nadieta do lobo-guará, Chrysocyon brachyurus (Mammalia:Canidae). In: Santos, J. E.; Pires, J. S. R. (Eds.). Estudos inte-grados em ecosistemas: Estação Ecológica de Jataí. São Carlos:Rima Editora, 2000. p. 331-346.MOTTA-JUNIOR, J. C.; TALAMONI, S. A.; LOMBARDI, J. A;SIMOKOMAKI, K. Diet of the maned wolf, Chrysocyonbrachyurus, in central Brazil. Journal of Zoology, London,v. 240, p. 277-284, 1996.SANTOS, E. F.; SETZ, E. Z. F.; GOBBI, N. Diet of maned wolf(Chrysocyon brachyurus) and its role in seed dispersal on acattle ranch in Brazil. Journal of Zoology, London., v. 260,p. 203-208, 2003.VIEIRA, E. M.; BAUMGARTEN, L. C. Daily activity patternsof small mammals in a cerrado area from central Brazil. Journalof Tropical Ecology, Cambridge, v. 11, p. 255-262, 1995.ZAR, J. H. Biostatistical analysis. 4. Ed.. New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1999. 718 p.Sonia Cristina da Silva Belentani1José Carlos Motta-Junior1Sônia Aparecida Talamoni2Recebido em: 12.11.04; aceito em: 30.03.05.1 Laboratório de Ecologia Trófica, Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo. 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.E-mail: soniab@ib.usp.br2 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia de Vertebrados, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais. 30535-610, Belo Horizonte, MG,Brazil.TABLE 1 – Food items found in 46 scats of maned wolves collected in the state of Minas Gerais, SoutheasternBrazil. Values in parentheses are percentages. The number of individual fruits consumed were not consideredbecause of difficulties in making comparisons with that of animals. Estimated biomass is shown in grams.Food items Occurrence Number Estimated Biomass Solanum lycocarpum fruits  45 (26.2)   6,200.0 (33.2) Miscellaneous fruits  5 (2.9)   2081.2 (11.1) Grasses  23 (13.4)   Subtotal Plants  73 (42.4)   8,281.2 (44.3) Insects  7 (4.1)  7 (4.5)  9.4 (0.0) Lizards  1 (0.6)  1 (0.6)  68.2 (0.4) Snakes  4 (2.3)  4 (2.6)  600.0 (3.2) Birds  14 (8.1)  14 (9.0)  1,040.0 (5.6) Opossums  1 (0.6)  1 (0.6)  698.1 (3.7) Armadillos  1 (0.6)  1 (0.6)  1,700.0 (9.1) Rodents  70 (40.7)  126 (81.3)  4,801.6 (25.7) Unidentified Medium Mammal  1 (0.6)  1 (0.6)  1,500.0 (8.0) Subtotal Animals  99 (57.6)  155 (99.8)  10,417.3 (55.7) Total   172 (100.0)  155 (99.8)  18,698.5 (100.0) 98 BELENTANI, S. C. da S.; MOTTA-JUNIOR, J. C. & TALAMONI, S. A.BIOCIÊNCIAS, Porto Alegre, v. 13, n. 1, p. 95-98, jun. 2005APPENDIXFood items consumed by the maned wolf in the Parque Florestal Salto e Ponte I. Mean weights (g) of prey and fruits arein parentheses. Scientific nomenclature follows MOTTA-JUNIOR et al. (1996) and references therein.FruitsAlibertia sessilis, Rubiaceae (6.6)Annona sp., Annonaceae (348.1)Duguetia furfuracea, Annonaceae (108.3)Solanum lycocarpum, Solanaceae (620.0)Grass (Poaceae, Cyperaceae)InsectsAcrididae sp. (1.2)Copiphorinae sp. (1.0)Gryllidae (2.0)Orthoptera n. id. (1.0)Scarabaeidae sp. (2.0)LizardsUnidentified sp. (68.8)SnakesUnidentified sp. (150.0)BirdsTinamidae sp., small (150.0)Passeriformes ssp., small (20.0)Volatinia jacarina (10.0)Other unidentified birds (150.0)Eggs (10.0)OpossumsDidelphis albiventris (698.1)ArmadillosDasypus sp., small (1,700.0)RodentsBolomys lasiurus (48.0)Calomys callosus (22.2)C. tener (15.2)Cavia aperea (518.0)Echimyidae sp. (235.0)Oligoryzomys nigripes (18.0)Oryzomys aff. subflavus (75.4)Pseudoryzomys simplex (47.0)Muridae spp., small (30.0)Other MammalsUnidentified medium mammal (1,500.0)TABLE 2 – Contingency table for the analysis of small mammal selectivity by the maned wolf inthe State of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. Species which avoid being captured with the trapsused, such as Cavia aperea and Echimyidae (pers. obs.), were not included.Species Observed (scats) Expected (traps) Lutreolina crassicaudata 0 6.5 Didelphis albiventris 1 9.7 Bolomys lasiurus 28 66.4 Oligoryzomys (=Oryzomys) nigripes1 6 1.6 Oryzomys aff. subflavus 1 16.2 Calomys tener2  63 11.3 Calomys callosus2 3 0 Rhipidomys mastacalis1 0 3.2 Oxymycterus delator 0 6.5 Pseudoryzomys simplex1 12 1.6 Non identified small rodents1  9 0 Total 123 123 (1) and (2) are groups of species combined because expected values were below 5.

Notes on the food habits and prey selection of the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) (Mammalia,

https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/fabio/article/download/175/157

Notes on the food habits and prey selection of the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) (Mammalia,

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

PUCRS Portal de Periodicos