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

Table 7.4. Comparison of ethnoecological and ecological data sets for Tayassu pecari
Subject Ethnoecological data Ecological observations
Diet Fruit, seeds, snakes, Diet dominated by plant reproductive parts
worms, grubs, roots [1,2,3,4,5]
including cultivated Plant roots also eaten [2,5,6]
tubers.
Crop predation reported anecdotally [7]
Seed predators. Various animal foods eaten including insects
and earthworms [2]
Seeds crushed when eaten [1,3,8]
Interspecific Kill hunting dogs. Various accounts of varying reliability
Immune to snakebite. concerning ferocity of herds to humans, dogs
Herd forms strong and other predators, [7]
defence against
Reports of herds mounting massed defence
predators but young against jaguars; predator defence suggested
animals predated by to be main benefit in group formation [3]
Panthera onca, Puma
concolor, Melanosuchus
niger and camoudi.
Predation by Panthera onca [13]
Intraspecific Large groups of 20-100 Group sizes counted 90-138, usual estimates
or more individuals. 100-200. Smaller groups of c.30 believed to
Temporary group be satellites of larger groups [3]
fragmentation.
Groups of 14-60 observed in Venezuelan dry
forest, some solitary individuals [9]
Groups from 30-40 to 100-200 [10]
Group sizes 70-260[11]
Habitat use Range over huge areas. Appear to have large but often definite home
Come onto savannah range [7]
during etai fruit season. Apparently nomadic or migratory: range over
Use swamps and thick areas larger than study sites [3,9,11]
liana forest.
Home range calculated to be 60-200 km2 [3]
Home ranges up to 109.6 km2 [10]
Return to regular feeding sites at annual and
shorter intervals [10]
Prefer stream beds and várzea forests [2]
Regularly use wallows [3,7]
Reproductive Litter size 1-3. Mean litter size in Peru 1.67+0.53, range 1-3
Born mainly in rainy [2,12]
season
Observed timing of mating implies birth peak
in rainy season [3]
[1] Bodmer 1989 [2] Bodmer et al. 1997a [3] Kiltie and Terborgh 1983 [4] Kiltie 1981a
[5] Barreto et al. 1997 [6] Olmos 1993 [7] Sowls 1984 [8] Kiltie 1982
[9] Hernandez et al. 1995 [10] Fragoso 1998 [11] Peres 1996
[12] Gottdenker and Bodmer 1998 [13] Tewes and Schmidly 1987
7.4 Lowland Tapir
Table 7.5 lists species whose fruits were reported, by more than one interviewee, to
be eaten by kodoi. In addition, there were corroborated reports of consumption of
several cultivars: bananas (Musa spp.), and the leaves of cassava (Manihot esculenta)
and pawpaw (Carica papaya). Leaves of non-cultivars listed more than once were
tooru (Cecropia sp.), wild whitees (several species of Inga) and finally grass.