Diet of the maned wolf, Chrysocyon brachyurus, in central Brazil

Abstract

Analysis of 105 scats of the maned wolf (Chrysocyon bruchyurus) collected in central Brazil yielded 304 occurrences of food items of which fruits of Solunum lycocarpum, rodents, and birds accounted for 61.5%. By analysis of minimum number of individual animals, rodents and birds were 75% of a total of 156 prey. On the other hand, fruits of S. lycocarpum and armadillos (Dasypus spp.) were the bulk of the total estimated biomass consumption, yielding 63.7% in a total of 73.5 kg. Rodents were mostly captured during the dry season, while miscellaneous fruits were consumed mostly in the wet season. The consumption of S. Iycocarpum fruits and armadillos was aseasonal. Small rodents were taken in about the ranks of abundance in the study area, but S. Iycocarpum fruits were actively searched by maned wolves, for its occurrence is limited to secondary savanna. Prey and fruits typical of savanna ('cerrado') and grassland ('campo') were the bulk of species, occurrences, prey numbers, and biomass consumed. These findings reinforce the importance of conservation of cerrado and campo in central Brazil. Despite maned wolf being a vulnerable species, its feeding habits are opportunistic, and the main reasons for its decline are likely to be habitat destruction and human disturbance.

Maned Wolves of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park

“…At some sites, cavies were important components of the diet (Bueno and Motta-Junior, 2004;Motta-Junior et al, 1996), but in others they were not (Dietz, 1984;. Lilienfeld (2000) reported both Cavia aperea and Galea sp.…”

“…Nevertheless, in the same park a year earlier, Jácomo (1999) found pampas deer remains in only 0.2% of 1,673 maned wolf scats, compared with a 65% presence of rodents in the same sample. Motta-Junior et al (1996) found remains of juvenile red brocket deer in two of 304 scats (Mazama americana). There are now no pampas deer on Los Fierros savanna, but the larger marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus, about 100 kg) is numerous, and there are a few grey brockets (Mazama gouazoubira, 15 kg).…”

“…This reduced the effective number of scats analyzed from 135 to 108. For comparability with other studies, we used (1) the crude percent of scats in the sample that included an item; (2) the number of items as a function of the number of total occurrences of all items in the sample, or frequency of occurrence; and (3) the minimum total number and biomass of items eaten, derived from countable hard parts (Dietz, 1984;Emmons, 1987;Motta-Junior et al, 1996). Biomass eaten was calculated with and without assigning an arbitrary mass representation for two fecal samples that included hair of marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus, 115 kg).…”

“…The local importance of A. edulis may be due to flood-prone Los Fierros habitat, as the species was common on hummocks in seasonally flooded savannas, where Solanum gomphodes was rare. Solanum lycocarpum is favored by anthropic disturbance (Courtenay, 1994;Motta-Junior et al, 1996) and S. gomphodes may have similar ecology, as it seems more common on roadsides than in undisturbed NKP savanna. The predominance of the genus in maned wolf diets may indicate altered habitat (Motta-Junior et al, 1996).…”

Conservation value of a native forest fragment in a region of extensive agriculture

“…As for pumas, it is rather surprising to find this species surviving in a zone of intensive agriculture in the neighborhoods of a large city like Ribeirão Preto. The maned wolf is not a forest dweller, rather, it inhabits open areas like cerrado (lato sensu), but is using the study fragment probably as a daytime refuge (Motta-Junior et al, 1996). Although weighting up to 20-25 kg, the maned wolf feeds on a variety of food items, including fruits and small preys, like rats, lizards and birds.…”