Title
RANGING BEHAVIOR AND ACTIVITY PATTERNS OF 2 SYMPATRIC PECCARIES, CATAGONUS-WAGNERI AND TAYASSU-TAJACU, IN THE PARAGUAYAN CHACO
Author(s)
TABER, AB; DONCASTER, CP; NERIS, NN; COLMAN, F
Published
1994
Publisher
Mammalia
Abstract
The Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri), considered extinct until 1975, lives in the central Paraguayan Chaco in sympatry with the Collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu). A radio-tracking study revealed that Chacoan and Collared peccaries kept stable groups with mean sizes of 4.5 and 6.7 individuals respectively. Four Chacoan peccary groups were territorial and had home ranges averaging 1098 ha by convex polygons, and one Collared peccary group had a range of 685 ha. Contact between species entailed agonistic behaviours, but the Collared peccary group shared 75 % of its range with two Chacoan peccary groups. One of these shared 88 % of its range (380 ha) with the Collared peccary group, the parts most frequently used by each species being within the overlapping area. Utilization distributions of each species were more highly correlated than random expectation, in grid-cells of 25 to 7 ha; utilization intermeshed, however, between 3-ha and smaller grid-cells, indicating partitioning at a fine scale of resolution. The probability of meeting was therefore low, but a mean separation of 986 +/- 117 m between groups was maintained more frequently than random expectation. Chacoan peccaries were active from dawn to dusk while Collared peccaries rested during the hottest part of die day (c. 40-degrees-C). We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the ecology of these two species and other members of the large mammalian herbivore guild in the Chaco.
Keywords
RAIN-FOREST PECCARIES
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PUB11845