INEVITÁVEL?
PALAVRAS-CHAVE
There are six felid species known to occur in western Paraná, Brazil: jaguar Panthera onca, puma Puma concolor, ocelot Leopardus pardalis, margay Leopardus wiedii, oncilla Leopardus tigrinus, and jaguarundi Puma yagouaroundi (Crawshaw, 1995; Chebez, 1996). In February of 2006, a male Geoffroy’s cat Leopardus geoffroyi (Fig. 1) was captured in the border of an agricultural area in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil (Fig. 2). Fire fighters brought it to ITAIPU Binational Wildlife Refuge where it has been kept in captivity. This species’ closest confirmed occurrence sites are located ca. 300 km toward the west and south in Argentina and Paraguay (Lucherini et al. 2008) or 600 km southward, in Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil (Trigo et al., 2013). Another visual sighting was also earlier reported in the eastern part of the Rio Grande do Sul state but there was no confirmed evidence (Margarido & Braga, 2008). Two hypotheses were initially proposed to explain the species presence in this area: (1) it may have escaped from local illegal captivity, or (2) land alteration has provided suitable habitat for this species to colonize the area from existing populations in nearby Paraguay and Argentina.
The process of resource exploitation – through logging, agriculture and urban sprawl has greatly reduced the original vegetation cover in the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest region during the last six decades (Strauber & Urben-filho, 2002). The resulting landscape contains forest fragments ranging from 0.3-185,000 ha, riparian forests, agricultural fields, ranches/farms, and urban development.
At the time of the cat’s capture, we were studying mammals’ response to habitat alteration, with particular focus on felids. Between 2008 and 2010, presence signs such as feces and latrines, scratches and predation signs of felids were recorded and georeferenced over 400 km of investigated poaching and game trails in and surrounding the Iguaçu National Park. A total of 49 scat samples were collected and sent to the American Museum of Natural History, New York, for analysis as part of the Global Felid Genetics program led by Salisa Rabinowitz for species identification. Genetic methodology consists in amplifying extracted DNA from scat samples using six primer sets spanning four mitochondrial gene regions that have proven effective in discriminating carnivore species. The four mitochondrial genes used were: cytochrome oxidase b, ATP-6 synthase, 12S rRNA, and 16S rRNA (see details in Caragiulo et al. 2013). Of the 49 scat samples analyzed, 31 could be positively identified and ten were positively identified twice as belonging to Geoffroy’s cat. The remaining were 14 ocelot scats, 5 puma scats, one jaguar scat and one small feral cat scat.
All Geoffroy’s cat feces were found on the forest edge or buffer zone of the Iguaçu National Park (Fig. 2). The buffer zone is an agricultural matrix composed primarily by soy-corn-wheat fields, eucalyptus plantations and forest remnants. According to the scats distribution, Geoffroy’s cat was the predominant species in the non-forested landscape including areas with human alteration.
The possibility that Geoffroy’s cats are colonizing areas near the Iguaçu National Park from the bordering populations in Paraguay and Argentina should be considered. The reviewed literature clearly illustrates the Geoffroy’s cat ability to adapt to a wide range of situations including habitat conversion
Figure 1. Geoffroy’s cat male specimen captured in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil in 2006. From left to right, fore paw, rear paw, right profile and tail views. Microchip ID: 00- 0629-EB9E. Credit: Anne-Sophie Bertrand © 2006.
Figure 2. Capture location of a Geoffroy´s cat individual and locations of scats genetically confirmed to be of Geoffroy’s cats, Iguaçu, southern Brazil.
and fragmentation (Manfredi et al., 2006; 2011; Pereira et al., 2012). With the increase of open lands providing more suitable habitat in this region and given Geoffroy’s cat’s ecological plasticity and opportunistic behavior, it could be migrating to western Paraná from neighboring populations. While this is coherent with our discovery of a live Geoffroy’s cat along with 10 scat samples in Foz Do Iguaçu, we cannot however discard the hypothesis the captured individual being an escapee from illegal captivity.
REFERENCES
Caragiulo A., Dias-Freedman I., Clark A., Rabinowitz S. & Amato G. 2013. Mitochondrial DNA sequence variation and phylogeography of Neotropic pumas (Puma concolor). Mitochondrial DNA DOI: 10.3109/19401736.2013.800486
Chebez J.C. 1996. Fauna Missioneira. Buenos Aires, L.O.L.A., 318 pp.
Crawshaw P.G. 1995. Notes on margay (Felis wiedii) and jaguarondi (F. yagouaroundi) in Iguaçu National Park, Brazil. p. 168-175. In: Comparative ecology of Ocelot (Felis pardalis) and Jaguar (Panthera onca) in a protected subtropical forest in Brazil and Argentina. PhD. Dissertation. University Florida.
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Trigo T. C., Tirelli F. P., Machado L. F., Peters F. B., Indrusiak C. B., Mazim F. D., Sana D., Eizirik E. & Freitas T. R. O. 2013. Geographic distribution and food habits of Leopardus tigrinus and L. geoffroyi (Carnivora, Felidae) at their geographic contact zone in southern Brazil. Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment 48, 56-67.