Hábitos alimentares de Galictis cuja (Carnivora: Mustelidae) no Pampa brasileiro

• Ano de defesa: 2024
• Autor(a) principal: Rodrigues , Bruna de Mattos
• Orientador(a): Kasper , Carlos Benhur
• Banca de defesa: Souza Júnior, Paulo de , Fornel , Rodrigo
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal do Pampa
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Mestrado Acadêmico em Ciências Biológicas
• Departamento: Campus São Gabriel
• País: Brasil
• Palavras-chave em Português: Dieta; Nicho trófico; Pampa; Predador; Rodentia; Diet; Trophic niche; Predator
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS
• Link de acesso: https://repositorio.unipampa.edu.br/handle/123456789/10325

The lesser grison Galictis cuja (Molina 1792) is a carnivorous member of the Mustelidae family. The species occur from northeastern Brazil, Bolivia and Peru to Southern Brazil, Uruguai, Argentina and Chile. Besides widespread, the lesser grison is poorly known, making studies necessary to understand the ecology of the species. In face of this scenario, this study aims to describe the feeding habits of G. cuja, based on the analysis of 40 stomach contends, collected from 2013 to 2023 in the Brazilian Pampa. The stomach contend was collected from road killed individuals found at the main roads of Rio Grande do Sul state, Southern Brazil. The residual material of this samples was analyzed in order to identify the prey components of the diet. The diet of the lesser grison was composed mainly by mammals, found in 80% of the stomachs and comprising 75% of the preys consumed. Amphibians was also preyed, occurring in 23% of the stomachs and comprising 14% of prey consumed, in addition to Reptiles and Birds in smaller proportions. We identify 63 individual preys, bellowing to 18 taxa, 11 of them was rodents. Among the Rodents, the main prey was Cavia sp. present in 35% of the stomachs and comprising 30% of the individuals consumed. Taking in account the biomass intake, C. aperea, Holochilus vulpinus e Rattus sp. respond for 62% of the total volume consumed. Although there was no difference in the mean of preys consumed for males and females, we could observe different patterns in the feeding habits. Males prey more upon Rattus, while females prey more Cavia. So, males consumed preys proportionally smaller (equivalent to 1/6 of their own weight) than females that consumed prey with about 1/3 of their own weight. This characteristic diverges from other mustelids, in which bigger preys are consumed by males, that are usually bigger than females.