NEW-RECORD OF THE BUSH DOG Speothos venaticus IN A HUMAN-ALTERED LANDSCAPE IN THE WEST OF MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

作者：Azevedo Fernanda Cavalcanti^*; Lemos Frederico Gemesio; Rocha Daniel Gomes; Costa Alan Nilo; Freitas Junior Mozart Caetano

来源：Bioscience Journal, 2016, 32(5): 1324-1330.

• Camera trapping
• Conservation
• Fragmentation
• Neotropical savanna
• Threatened species
• Wild canids

The bush dog (Speothos venaticus) is a Neotropical canid with a wide geographic distribution. Although globally listed as Near Threatened, this species was listed as Vulnerable in a recent assessment by the Brazilian government. Few records of this mammal have been reported in the Brazilian Cerrado, and it is considered extinct in several localities as a result of human landscape fragmentation. The record presented here is the first evidence of bush dog presence in the West of Minas Gerais, Brazil, which augments the species distribution with expected occurrence for this region. The study site was a transitional area between the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes, in the Triangulo Mineiro region, which is a highly fragmented landscape, dominated by cattle ranches with exotic pasture species and scattered natural patches. We recorded a single bush dog individual in our survey (4,036 camera trap/night), but our sampling success was expected compared with that of other previous mammal surveys using the camera trapping method, in part, because of the species' elusive behavior and low natural densities. This record enhances knowledge of the S. venaticus distribution. Potentially, we confirm the presence of the bug dog in a region that was regarded being environmentally suitable for this species occurrence, but where it has never been reported. Moreover, our result elucidates the potential of the natural remnants to harbor threatened species in highly human-influenced and non-protected landscapes, which is the dominant scenario found in West Minas Gerais, Brasil.

• 出版日期2016-10