Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

Most agreed that this is a solitary species: seven interviewees gave this
response, of which one mentioned that individuals may occasionally aggregate at
food sources. A further two gave group sizes of one or two, and one interviewee said
that pairs were the norm. All gave figures for litter size, of which all but one fell into
the range 1-3; this range itself was specified in three cases. The exceptional answer
was four. Four interviewees suggested breeding seasons; although their answers
varied, all are consistent with a with a pattern in which the majority of births take
place over a period of several months beginning late in the dry season. Five
interviewees mentioned maternal care, in the form of provision of food to young while
they are in the hole; two others mentioned that the young are born in the hole.
A range of predators was listed: jaguar, puma, ocelot (Leopardus tigrinus),
jaguarundi (Herpailurus yaguarondi) and land camoudi were each mentioned by a
majority of interviewees, harpy eagle by two.
6.3.6 ‘Laba’, paca.
All fourteen interviewees stated seeds to be an important dietary component, and all
but one included fruit. Seven interviewees also mentioned cassava as a major food.
Only two singled out the fruits of individual species as being of prime importance:
naata (Hymenea oblongata) and waazu (Astrocaryum sp.). All six interviewees
mentioning a food shortage specified that this occurred in the dry season, but they
gave somewhat contradictory examples of foods available at this time: five
mentioned crop-raiding, and two old or buried seeds. When food species were
specified, waazu and dyuwuza (Mauritia flexuosa) were each mentioned twice, while
naata, poo'a (Pouteria sp.) and guava (Psidium guajava) only received a single
mention each. Eleven interviewees indicated that they regarded this species as a seed
predator, but one of these, along with another interviewee, also pointed out that they
may disperse seeds synzoochorously when they carry them from the vicinity of the
parent tree.
All but one of the interviewees stated group size to be one, two, or either one or
two; the exceptional answer was 1-3. Some of those giving group sizes of 2 or 1-2
suggested that groups of two might be breeding pairs. Four interviewees further
mentioned that temporary aggregation into larger groups may occur at feeding
places, or (in one answer only) along creeks. Six interviewees gave information on
habitat use, in every case describing the animal as riparian, and in one case
mentioning that creek sides in both forest and savannah were used. Three
interviewees mentioned a form of seasonal migration in which creekside areas