Dados do Trabalho

TÍTULO

HIGH ANIMAL PREY AND FUNGI IN DIET OF WHITE-LIPPED PECCARIES BASED ON STABLE ISOTOPES

Resumo

The white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) is a dominant terrestrial herbivore in non-hunted Neotropical rainforests. Fruits and seeds have been considered the major staple food, yet we do not have information on the full diet of white-lipped peccaries in their natural habitats. Here we study the diet of six populations of white-lipped peccaries in the Brazilian Atlantic forest (3 in evergreen and 3 in semideciduous forests) based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from peccaries hair. Animal prey (invertebrates) and fungi were the main items in peccaries’ diet. We found a clear difference in the diet of white-lipped peccaries between evergreen and semideciduous forests, where populations in evergreen forests consumed a large proportion of fungi (20-50%), while ingested more animal prey (75%). Some individuals of the populations in semidecidous forests, which are fragmented and isolated, also include C4 plants, suggesting crop raiding. Our results indicate, for the first time, that white-lipped peccaries feed heavily on invertebrates and fungi, challenging the notion that they are strictly herbivores.

 

Palavras-chave

queixadas, Mata Atlantica, fungos, dispersao

Financiamento

FAPESP, CNPq