Abstract
Habitat fragmentation due to transport infrastructure, such as highways, is receiving growing concern due to deleterious consequences of roadkill, a consequence of animal--vehicle collisions. This study was conducted on a 115 km section of the highway BR-242 between the Peixe Angical Hydroelectric Power Plant and Gurupi town, Tocantins state, Brazil. During twelve months, records of medium and large-sized mammals' roadkilled by vehicle collisions were weekly acquired. Photographic records, date and place of occurrence were obtained for each roadkilled animal. We also propose new indexes to evaluate roadkill rates. In total, 18 species, 17 genera, 10 families, and six orders were recorded. The species with the highest number of registers were: Cerdocyon thous , Myrmecophaga tridactyla , Tamandua tetradactyla , Procyon cancrivorus , Nasua nasua and Dasyprocta leporina , corresponding to 73.5% of roadkills. The curve of species accumulation showed no tendency for stabilization. The results showed that the roadkill indices were 0.003 species/km; 0.009 individuals/km; 0.375 species/sampling; 1,021 individuals/sampling; 306,667 kilometers traveled/hit species, and 115,00 kilometers traveled/animal. Seven species recorded are considered threatened: Chrysocyon brachyurus , Leopardus pardalis , Leopardus wiedii , Lycalopex vetulus , Myrmecophaga tridactyla , Puma concolor , and Puma yagouaroundi .
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