Abstract
Although the paca is the most frequently hunted game species throughout the Neotropics, its behavioral and ecological requirements remain poorly understood. Here, we describe ranging behavior, spatio-temporal intraspecific interactions, and cavity use within a mosaic landscape in Central Belize, based on radio-tracking of four males and two females. This study is the first to investigate social interactions and spatial structure within a paca population in unprotected marginal habitat. We detected extensive home range overlap between males and between sexes. Male-male overlap was less extensive within core areas, while female core ranges were almost entirely occupied by one or more males. On average, pacas used at least six cavities within their home range. The majority of cavities were in the core areas and we did not detect simultaneous co-habitation of the same location. On average, females occupied cavities that were closer together, and closer to water bodies, than those of males. Overall, our study suggests a general tolerance during nocturnal foraging activities, but exclusive use of core areas and associated cavities. The larger ranges of males than females and the extensive overlap between conspecifics suggest a polygamous or promiscuous mating system in this landscape.
Highlights
Compared to tropical environments in Asia and Africa, the Neotropics are characterized by few large ground-dwelling vertebrate species, providing a limited range of heavily exploited game species (Fa and Peres 2001; Fritz and Loison2006)
For two males (M2 and M4) accumulation curves (AACs) did not plateau during the study duration, and these estimates, the largest home ranges in the sample, should be considered conservative
Core area overlap was low between all pairs of individuals, despite extensive home range overlap between some pairs (Table 1, Figs. 2 and 3)
Summary
Compared to tropical environments in Asia and Africa, the Neotropics are characterized by few large ground-dwelling vertebrate species, providing a limited range of heavily exploited game species (Fa and Peres 2001; Fritz and Loison2006). Demographic, and social parameters are well understood for popular game and trophy species in areas that have a long history of studying and regulating harvests (e.g., Europe, North America, and subSaharan Africa: Coltman et al 2003; Milner et al 2007; Proffitt et al 2010; Ordiz et al 2012; Mysterud 2014; Lone et al 2015). Such detailed knowledge is lacking from the Neotropics, despite its long tradition of subsistence and commercial hunting, both for wild meat and body parts (Pérez 1992; Ojasti 1996)
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