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1 April 2011 Food Habits and Notes on the Biology of Chelonoidis carbonaria (Spix 1824) (Testudinidae, Chelonia) in the Southern Pantanal, Brazil
Ellen Wang, Camila I. Donatti, Vanda L. Ferreira, Josué Raizer, Jeffrey Himmelstein
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Abstract

Here we present data on the morphology and habits of male and female individuals of Chelonoidis carbonaria and on their diet based on scat analysis (n = 21) at Fazenda Rio Negro, Brazilian Pantanal, subregion of Nhecolândia, from January 2004 to April 2007. The tortoises in the Pantanal had an average larger weight than the ones sampled in the Amazon, which could be a result of low local hunting pressure over the species and/or abundant resource availability. For both males and females, fruits represented the highest portion of items consumed, reflecting the importance of fruits in their diet. Because 90% of the seeds found in scat samples were found intact, and considering both the retention time of seeds in the digestive tract and distance traveled while retaining the seeds, tortoises can be considered important seed dispersers in the Pantanal. For instance, we found out that tortoises can be extremely important in the dispersal and recruitment of Syagrus flexuosa, an uncommon palm species in the study area, the seeds of which are not usually found in other frugivores' scats. Also, the tortoise's ability to ingest large-sized seeds that are usually consumed by a limited range of dispersers make tortoises even more important especially in areas where mammals exist in low density or are already extinct.

© 2011 Brazilian Society of Herpetology
Ellen Wang, Camila I. Donatti, Vanda L. Ferreira, Josué Raizer, and Jeffrey Himmelstein "Food Habits and Notes on the Biology of Chelonoidis carbonaria (Spix 1824) (Testudinidae, Chelonia) in the Southern Pantanal, Brazil," South American Journal of Herpetology 6(1), 11-19, (1 April 2011). https://doi.org/10.2994/057.006.0102
Received: 26 June 2010; Accepted: 1 March 2011; Published: 1 April 2011
KEYWORDS
Brazil
diet
Fruit disperser
morphology
Pantanal
red-footed tortoise
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