The Instituto Ambiental do Paraná has published the Livro Vermelho da Fauna Ameaçada no Estado do Paraná, in cooperation with the Government of Paraná and the Secretaria de Estado do Meio Ambiente e Recursos Hídricos (SEMA). Edited by Sandra Bos Mikich and Renato Silveira Bérnils, this 700- page volume provides the most recent assessment of the conservation status of well over three hundred threatened and indeterminate species in the Brazilian state of Paraná. Detailed entries, each with its own map, cover 56 species of mammals, 167 birds, 13 reptiles, 25 amphibians, 50 fishes, 18 bees and 15 butterflies, for a total of 344 species designated as threatened, Near Threatened or Data Deficient. Of all the species known to occur in Paraná, 32% of the mammals are considered threatened, 28% of the reptiles and amphibians, 22% of birds, and 5% or less of fishes, bees and butterflies.
Of the 176 mammal species verified from Paraná, nine are edentates, three of which are treated in the Livro Vermelho: Bradypus variegatus (RE), Cabassous tatouay (DD) and Myrmecophaga tridactyla (CR). The three-toed sloth is known there from a single record in 1946, and the species was probably extirpated decades ago, owing to its need for primary forest and its extreme sensitivity to habitat alteration. Both the giant anteater and the naked-tailed armadillo still survive in Paraná, but they are threatened by agricultural expansion and habitat loss, including the wildfires and controlled burns known together as queimadas. They often fall victim to domestic dogs and highway strikes, and they are heavily persecuted by local people for threats both real and imagined. As a first step in addressing their decline, the Livro Vermelho of Paraná recommends research projects to understand their basic biology, ecology and remaining distribution.
The Paraná volume follows the publication, in 2003, of an equally comprehensive survey for Brazil's southernmost state: the Livro Vermelho da Fauna Ameaçada de Extinção no Rio Grande do Sul, edited by Carla S. Fontana, Glayson A. Bencke and Roberto E. Reis, and published by Edipucrs, the university press of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul. This volume received support from a variety of foundations and NGOs, including Conservation International do Brasil and the Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza. The assessments detailed in the Livro Vermelho, resulting from more than three years of work by dozens of specialists, were codified in state law by Decreto Estadual nº 41.672, promulgated on 11 June 2002 and signed by then-governor Olívio Dutra.
The Livro Vermelho of Rio Grande do Sul provides information on 261 species in five threat categories, including 33 mammals, 128 birds, 27 reptiles and amphibians, 28 fishes, 18 insects, 17 molluscs, 7 crustaceans and 3 sponges. Of the nine edentates originally known from the state – the same nine that occur in Paraná – three are listed as threatened: Cabassous tatouay (DD), Myrmecophaga tridactyla (CR) and Tamandua tetradactyla (VU). Both anteater species have suffered from the widespread loss of habitat, both for themselves and for the social insects they feed on, owing to agricultural expansion and the queimadas. As in Paraná, domestic dogs and highway mortality are taking their toll, and local people kill giant anteaters on sight for their supposed ferocity. To counter these threats, the Livro Vermelho suggests several courses of action, beginning with field studies to supply baseline biological and ecological information for each of these species. Other recommendations include programs of environmental awareness, the creation of protected areas around specific habitat complexes, and statewide surveys for surviving populations – in particular of Myrmecophaga tridactyla.
These two volumes from Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul are the most recent additions to a small series of regional assessments produced by individual states in Brazil. Paraná was the first state to do so, in 1995, at which time their list included 21 species of mammals (Brazil, Paraná, SEMA, 1995). Three years later the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo also released summaries of threatened species within their borders (Machado et al., 1998; Bergallo et al., 1998; Brazil, São Paulo, SMA, 1998), listing 40, 43 and 41 species of threatened mammals respectively. All together these five states, concentrated in the industrialized and heavily impacted southeast of Brazil, remain the only states to have produced current, comprehensive assessments of threatened species. We hope that other Brazilian states will join this continuing process, and provide summaries of equal scope and value for other regions in Brazil.
Threatened Edentates in Paraná
Bradypus variegatus - RE
On the basis of a single record from Londrina in 1946, the three-toed sloth is included among the fauna of Paraná as regionally extinct. The species is closely tied to primary forest, and is sensitive to even slight disturbance or changes in its environment; it most likely has gone extinct in Paraná owing to changes in forest type and overall habitat loss. No recommendations are made.
Myrmecophaga tridactyla - CR
The giant anteater's original distribution in Paraná is unknown, and now it is found mainly in remnant patches of cerrado and campos naturais. In recent years only a few sightings have been made from a handful of protected areas; no population estimates can be made, but it has already vanished from one state park and its presence is uncertain in others. Giant anteaters are able to survive in ranchlands and pasture if ants and termites are present, but otherwise they will disappear as well. The primary threats to this species in Paraná, as elsewhere, are the extensive expansion of agriculture, subsistence hunting by humans and attacks by domestic dogs. Its population is also impacted by widespread burnings and highway mortality. No conservation measures are currently in place, but the Livro Vermelho recommends an urgent program to map the current extent of the species in Paraná and monitor individuals in the wild, along with other ecological projects and habitat protection in general.
Cabassous tatouay - DD
Although relatively common from Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul, this species is little-known and rarely verified from Paraná. Presumably its range once included the entire state; today it survives in a variety of habitats, from humid forests to open and altered areas. The main threats are uncontrolled burnings and habitat destruction. C. tatouay is also heavily hunted in cultivated areas for the damage done to fields by the excavation of its burrows, which are occupied in sequence and then abandoned. The only recommendations are for research projects on its distribution, ecology and biology.
Threatened Edentates in Rio Grande do Sul
Tamandua tetradactyla - VU
In Rio Grande do Sul, historical records suggest the lesser anteater once occurred throughout the state. It is still widespread, although restricted mainly to the central and southern regions. It is absent from the northeast, where they are most likely extinct. Although capable of living in a wide range of habitats, in Rio Grande do Sul the lesser anteater prefers forested areas to savanna, and lives close to water whenever possible. Its populations have declined along with their habitat, which has been degraded and fragmented by agriculture and widespread burnings. Domestic dogs have become a major predator, along with occasional killings by humans for no particular reason, and highway mortality is also a serious concern. The Livro Vermelho recommends longterm field studies on their diet, activity patterns, population density, home-range size and preferred habitats – an indication of how much basic information is still wanting for this species.
Myrmecophaga tridactyla - CR
Giant anteaters were already rare a century ago in Rio Grande do Sul, and by now they may already be ecologically extinct in the state. Never common anywhere across their immense range – which at one time may have reached from Argentina to Belize – there is little evidence they survive in Rio Grande do Sul, aside from a single individual found dead on a highway in 1999. Able to survive in a tremendous variety of landscapes, from humid tropical forest to dry steppes and savannas, they nonetheless require gallery forests for access to water and sleeping trees. On account of their aggressive self-defense when threatened, giant anteaters garnered a reputation for ferocity among the gauchos, and they are still often shot on sight as “dangerous” animals – although they are rarely if ever eaten once killed. The tremendous loss of habitat due to agriculture must have had direct effects on their population, but has also caused a great decline in the standing crop of the social insects on which they survive. In the Cerrado, the most common cause of individual death is from fires, although highway mortality is also a danger. The Livro Vermelho suggests three primary actions: to locate any individuals or populations still surviving in the state; to create conservation units around forests associated with native grasslands, in order to provide natural refuges; and to educate local people about the inoffensive nature and serious decline of giant anteaters in their state.
Cabassous tatouay - DD
There is no recent information on the status of this species in Rio Grande do Sul; there are old records, but no surveys are underway. The Livro Vermelho suggests C. tatouay may be declining in the west and southwest of the state, but gives no reasons for this decline nor recommendations for conservation action.
References
Notes
[1] John M. Aguiar, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, 1919 M Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036, USA. E-mail: <j.aguiar@conservation.org>.
