First record of geophagy by a Ramphastidae species (Piciformes)
- PDF / 481,604 Bytes
- 4 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 103 Downloads / 192 Views
SHORT COMMUNICATION
First record of geophagy by a Ramphastidae species (Piciformes) Bianca Santos Matinata 1
&
Daniel Fernandes Perrella 2
Received: 8 May 2020 / Revised: 20 September 2020 / Accepted: 23 September 2020 / Published online: 10 October 2020 # Sociedade Brasileira de Ornitologia 2020
Abstract The use of soil as a resource has been reported for several groups of vertebrates. Among birds, geophagy had been documented for Columbidae, Cracidae, Anatidae, and Psittacidae, for some Passeriformes, and there is a single report for Picidae. However, it had never been reported for toucans (Ramphastidae). Previous studies indicate that this behavior can bring benefits, such as mineral supplementation, neutralization of toxins in the diet, and chemical and mechanical aid in the digestion process. Here, we report the first documented record of geophagy for Ramphastidae, where a single individual Red-breasted Toucan Ramphastos dicolorus, an Atlantic Forest endemic and primarily frugivorous bird, was observed consuming portions of red clay soil, next to a road in a semi-urbanized area at Guarulhos city, state of São Paulo. We discussed the possible reasons for this event of geophagy, probably an uncommon behavior for a toucan, which needs to be better investigated for understanding its motivation. Keywords Atlantic Forest . Behavior . Ramphastos dicolorus . Red-breasted Toucan . Natural history . Soil consumption
Geophagy is the intentional or incidental consumption of clay, soil, or sand by animals, and it has been observed for several groups of vertebrates, such as reptiles (Sokol 1971), birds (Downs et al. 2019), and mammals (Krishnamani and Mahaney 2000; Holdø et al. 2002; Vidolin et al. 2009), including humans and other primates (Abrahams and Parsons 1996). Among birds, geophagy is a common behavior in parrots and parakeets (Diamond et al. 1999; Hui 2004; Sazima 2008; Costa-Pereira et al. 2015; Dornas et al. 2016), and has also been reported for ducks (Anatidae), pigeons (Columbidae), guans (Cracidae), passerines, and many other groups (Diamond et al. 1999; Hui 2004; Downs 2006; Bertsch and Barreto 2008; Willrich 2020), including woodpeckers Picidae (Rea 2017). Communicated by: Lilian Manica Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s43388-020-00027-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Bianca Santos Matinata [email protected] 1
Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida Nazaré 481, São Paulo 04263-000, Brazil
2
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luiz km 235, São Carlos 13565-905, Brazil
Several studies have demonstrated that geophagy can provide many physiological and pharmacological benefits for animal health, such as promoting the adsorption of toxins present on fruits or seeds, to operate in gastrointestinal cytoprotection (Gilardi et al. 1999; Brightsmith et al. 2008). Moreover, it provides mechanical support in t
Data Loading...
