Ungulates of Costa Rica

Abstract

Costa Rica’s 51,100 km2 terrestrial territory represents only the 0.03% of the world’s land area. Despite being a small country, Costa Rica harbors approximately 5% of the world’s known biodiversity, this makes it one of the world’s 20 countries with greater species diversity. About 2.5 MY ago, Costa Rica and Panama served as an intercontinental bridge between North and South America. This land bridge favored a two-way movement of biota between continents. This closure was of special significance for ungulates in the Neotropics. With the isthmus establishment, the Cervidae, Tayassuidae and Tapiridae families (nonexistent in South America until the closure) gained an access route to the new continent, thus initializing the colonization and diversification of Southern ungulates in America. Nowadays five species inhabit Costa Rica: the Central American red brocket (Mazama temama), the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), the white-collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) and the Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii). In order to establish the actual ecological and biological state of the knowledge of the different species inhabiting Costa Rica, we reviewed the literature published between 2008 and 2018. On general terms, most research on ungulates was focused on the Caribbean low-humid lands, establishing relative population indexes during short time periods. Worth saying, many studies reporting ungulate abundances were actually jaguar monitoring studies. Also, a big deal of variation between sampling efforts was noted. No long-term population monitoring of any ungulate species was found. Regarding species, the white-collared peccary and the Baird’s tapir are the most studied species recently. On the other hand, the Central American red brocket is a data-deficient species. The white-lipped peccary represents a serious conservation concern due to its low population size, as a result of historical illegal hunting and habitat loss. Regarding habitat analysis, in qualitative terms, there is no change in the species range within the country. The white-collared peccary, the Baird’s tapir, and the white-tailed deer are the most registered ungulates. Few information about habitat suitability and its relationship with population viability or biological connectivity and its impacts (for example roadkill) has been accomplished recently. Recent ecological and behavioral research is focused on the analysis of interspecific interactions of the white-collared peccary in low humid forests on the one hand and the social behavior of highland Baird’s tapirs in the other. There is no recent study focusing on basic ecological aspects of the white-tailed deer, the Central American red brocket or white-lipped peccary. On veterinarian terms, research on wild ungulates is a relatively new area, and has focused mainly on parasitology. Many important research have been done in the country, improving the general knowledge of the species. However, in order to ensure ungulate conservation in Costa Rica, more research and actions such as long-term monitoring for establishing population trends, studies of ecological and genetic connectivity between populations, local communities’ involvement in ungulate monitoring, and turning ungulates into key species within different wildlife areas should become a priority.