Movements of Neotropical Forest Deer: What Do We Know?

Loss of Migratory Traditions Makes the Endangered Patagonian Huemul Deer a Year-Round Refugee in Its Summer Habitat

“…Although a small number of precise locations may result in a reduced estimate of the home range size, the sampling over a large time period, as in this study, compensates by repeatedly covering all seasons [41]. Moreover, even crudely estimated home range sizes have led to insights into animal behavior and ecology [41], and this information is fundamentally important for managing and maintaining viable populations [6]. The home range sizes determined here may not allow comparisons to other studies, but among the present cases.…”

“…However, past over-harvesting has not only resulted in local extirpation, but we hypothesize that it also eliminated their migratory traditions. Although extant groups of huemul persist along the seasonal Andean Mountain range, none have been shown to still exhibit migratory behavior [6]. Seasonal migration allows a species to capitalize on spatiotemporal variation in resources and being a plastic behavior, also results in colonization of new areas.…”

“…Among cervids, year-round resident populations on winter ranges in seasonal mountain environments are the norm, as well as the eventual development of a portion of that population that migrates altitudinally [7,8]. Migratory cultural behavior is transmitted vertically from mother to young, whereas dispersal is innate and by random diffusion that is predetermined genetically, but may also occur secondarily in response to environmental conditions [9]: thus, preserving Although extant groups of huemul persist along the seasonal Andean Mountain range, none have been shown to still exhibit migratory behavior [6]. Seasonal migration allows a species to capitalize on spatiotemporal variation in resources and being a plastic behavior, also results in colonization of new areas.…”

“…There is a common misconception that these areas represent their natural ecological niche, rather than recognizing that the huemul may have been isolated by anthropogenic activities to persist only in such suboptimal habitat that was less accessible to humans, and effectively has become a refugee species by being forced to contract its range and lose its migratory behavior [17][18][19][20]. The huemul continue to be described as "mountain deer adapted to Andes mountains", "found only in the Andes", "high-altitude species", "mountain deer with unmistakable mountaineer anatomy", "at 2000-3000 m asl of Andes", "commonly in high-altitude regions that are also rocky and steep", and "a forest deer" [6,[21][22][23][24]. This unfounded assumption has led to the characterization of the huemul as predominately a browser and a non-migratory species.…”

“…Securing adequate sample sizes of field data is difficult with rare and endangered species that live in remote refuge areas as occurs with huemul [6]. The current pattern of habitat use by many isolated huemul subpopulations, including the few remaining huemul reported here from Shoonem Park, and the revealed differences with the documented historical patterns, highlights the central urgency to achieve a valid diagnosis of the causes and consequences of becoming a year-round refugee in areas which qualify as seasonal summer ranges [20].…”