Spatial patterns of the first groups of collared peccaries ( Pecari tajacu ) reintroduced in South America
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Tropical Ecology https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-020-00099-1
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Spatial patterns of the first groups of collared peccaries (Pecari tajacu) reintroduced in South America Cindy M. Hurtado1,3 · Harald Beck1,4 · Paporn Thebpanya1 · Mariana Altrichter2,4 Received: 1 November 2019 / Revised: 27 June 2020 / Accepted: 30 July 2020 © International Society for Tropical Ecology 2020
Abstract The collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) is distributed from southwestern USA to northern Argentina; however, in some Argentinean localities it went extinct over 50 years ago. As part of a rewilding project, two peccary groups (one captive-bred family group and one mixed group formed by not genetically related individuals) were reintroduced to the Ibera National Park. Following the release, we monitored the movements of 16 individuals to obtain GPS locations every 100 min, for 6 months. We evaluated the individual’s spatial patterns by assessing site fidelity, home range changes, and habitat selection. Most members of the family group survived and established a home range whereas almost all members of the mixed group dispersed and did not survive. Using the Autocorrelated Kernel Density Estimator, the groups’ home range was 8.9 ± 1.7 km2 for the entire study period. In addition, individuals showed high fidelity to release site and a stable home range a few months after release. At larger scales (second order of selection), peccaries selected forested habitat and proximity to release site while at a smaller scale (third order of selection), they avoided grasslands. We highlight the importance of familiarity of individuals prior to release and provide recommendations for future reintroductions. Three years later, by September 2019, nine groups were established in the Ibera National Park and the abundance was over 45 individuals. This is the first postrelease assessment of the movement patterns of collared peccaries in South America. Keywords Argentina · Habitat selection · Home range · Post-release · Reintroduction biology · Site-fidelity
Introduction The reintroduction of species is a conservation approach to mitigate the negative effects of defaunation (Brown et al. 2011; Seddon et al. 2014). Planning is a crucial component of reintroduction and translocation success, and a large number of factors need to be considered prior, during, and after reintroduction (IUCN 2013; Batson et al. 2015). Some of the factors that affect post-release survival, and therefore reintroduction success include: intra-specific conflicts (Linklater et al. 2011; Shier and Swaisgood 2012), long-distance * Cindy M. Hurtado [email protected] 1
Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252, USA
2
Prescott College, 220 Grove Ave, Prescott, AZ 86303, USA
3
University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada
4
Co-Chair IUCN Peccary Specialist Group, Towson, USA
dispersal from the release site (Stamps and Swaisgood 2007; Shier and Swaisgood 2012), high predation levels due to predator naïvity (Shier and
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