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

most frequently - cassava (Manihot esculenta), especially roots left to soak in forest
creeks during processing. Oran were also reported to gnaw upon the shells of dead
turtles and animal bones, especially those discarded around hunting camps.
Of all the species of animal focused upon in this chapter, it is Agouti paca whose
ecology is most poorly known, and those papers that do exist on the subject are not
readily available. The comparison in table 7.12 is based upon species accounts in two
general texts on neotropical mammals, and various papers on species of predator,
which include records of the consumption of A. paca as prey. Fourteen observations
on comparable subjects are all consistent between the two data sets.
Table 7.12. Comparison of ethnoecological and ecological data sets for Agouti paca
Subject Ethnoecological observation Ecological observation
Diet Seeds, fruits, crops - especially cassava Seed predators, but also
Dry season food shortage, at which time disperse some buried seeds
feed off farm crops, seeds buried during synzoochorously. Fruits,
their time of abundance and the seeds of
Mauritia flexuosa and Astrocaryum
nuts, seeds [5]
aculeatum
Eat fruits and some tubers [6]
Social Group size 1-2
Usually solitary, although
Groups of two may be breeding pairs mother may be accompanied
Sometimes aggregate at feeding places by young. Male and female
territories overlap [5]
Pairs share territories, but
forage alone [6]
Habitat use Riparian habitats in both forest and Most common near
savannah.
Migrate seasonally in response to
inundation
watercourses or seeps [6]
Activity
patterns
Nocturnal Usually nocturnal [5,6]
Resting place Burrows in ground or rotten tree trunks Digs burrows or appropriates
those of giant armadillo [5]
Ranging Occupy fixed home ranges Occupy and defend fixed
behaviour
home ranges [5]
Reproduction Litter size 1-2
Usually single young, rarely
Parental care lasts 3-4 months
twins [5]
Predation Speothos venaticus reported to be Hunted and eaten by
specialist laba predator
Speothos venaticus [1,2]
Panthera onca, Puma concolor,
Eaten by Panthera onca,
Leopardus sp./spp. and camoudis Leopardus pardalis [3]
(Constrictor constrictor and Eunectes Eaten by Panthera onca, Puma
murinus) also listed as predators. concolor, L. pardalis [4]
[1] Peres 1991 [2] Deutsch 1983 [3] Tewes and Schmidly 1987 [4] Emmons 1987
[5] Eisenberg 1989 : 395-6 [6] Emmons and Feer 1997: 224-5