ABSTRACT. For an inter-seasonal 4-month period, we recorded the parts of plant species consumed by a troop of 16 spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in three forest fragments in the western wetland of the Yucatan Peninsula. In these forest fragments, spider monkeys ate vegetal parts of five plant species: leaves and fruits of fig (Ficus maxima) and zapote (Manilkara zapota), leaves and flowers of white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), leaves of huano palm (Sabal yapa), and fruits of chechem (Metopium brownei). With exception of the latter, plant species consumed by spider monkeys in the forest fragments studied, constitute the most important forest resources in the regional wetland. Consumption of vegetal parts from white mangrove in our study sites represents the first record of this plant species in the diet of spider monkey within the Neotropics.
In Neotropical environments, we know little about the abundance of wild vertebrates traditionally hunted. Based on subsistencehunting records (2005-2019) as well as ethnographic information from Maya peasant-hunters, we assessed the inter-annual capture rate of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a rural community in the northwest of the Yucatan Peninsula. We found that the number of prey decreased over the years, showing a declining capture rate (prey/trip) that decreased by as much as 50% from the first (2005-2006) to the third period (2010-2011) of records. The majority of peasant-hunters interviewed (74%; N = 31) perceived this reduction in deer to have taken place mainly over the past 10 years as consequence of hunting (71%). The agreement between the hunting trend and peasants’ perceptions regarding the abundance of white-tailed deersuggests that this species may be at risk in future scenarios of use in northwest of contemporary Mayab.
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