Nelson F. Galvis, Andrés Link, Diego Mosquera, Gabriela Vinueza-Hidalgo, Lisa Carrillo, Alex Mauricio Mopán-Chilito, Sebastián O. Montilla
{"title":"Notes on the ecology, activity patterns and behavior of the kinkajou (Potos flavus)","authors":"Nelson F. Galvis, Andrés Link, Diego Mosquera, Gabriela Vinueza-Hidalgo, Lisa Carrillo, Alex Mauricio Mopán-Chilito, Sebastián O. Montilla","doi":"10.1515/mammalia-2023-0055","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Kinkajous are one of the most widely distributed Neotropical mammals, nonetheless, their nocturnal habits have posed challenges on the study of their ecology and behavior. Here, we used arboreal camera trapping in a pristine Amazonian forest in Ecuador, and <jats:italic>ad libitum</jats:italic> data from direct encounters in a lowland and a highland forest in Colombia to describe their activity patterns and describe anecdotal data on their diet and reproductive behaviors. As expected, kinkajous are strictly nocturnal and seem to be active throughout the entire night, although in our study there was less activity towards the beginning and the end of the night. Kinkajous were observed to be mostly solitary, rarely in groups of two to three adult individuals. Although their diet has not been described in detail, fruits from Moraceae and Urticaceae appear to be important components of their diet. Their reproductive behavior involves an isolated pair of kinkajous, and may be interrupted by other males. Pairs seem to meet for reproductive purposes and range together for several hours, during which courtship may take place, ending in copulation, which lasts for approximately 3 min. After copulation, the male and female appear to separate and return to their solitary habits. The results of this study complement the scarce information on the elusive kinkajous in the Neotropical forests.","PeriodicalId":49892,"journal":{"name":"Mammalia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mammalia","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2023-0055","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ZOOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Kinkajous are one of the most widely distributed Neotropical mammals, nonetheless, their nocturnal habits have posed challenges on the study of their ecology and behavior. Here, we used arboreal camera trapping in a pristine Amazonian forest in Ecuador, and ad libitum data from direct encounters in a lowland and a highland forest in Colombia to describe their activity patterns and describe anecdotal data on their diet and reproductive behaviors. As expected, kinkajous are strictly nocturnal and seem to be active throughout the entire night, although in our study there was less activity towards the beginning and the end of the night. Kinkajous were observed to be mostly solitary, rarely in groups of two to three adult individuals. Although their diet has not been described in detail, fruits from Moraceae and Urticaceae appear to be important components of their diet. Their reproductive behavior involves an isolated pair of kinkajous, and may be interrupted by other males. Pairs seem to meet for reproductive purposes and range together for several hours, during which courtship may take place, ending in copulation, which lasts for approximately 3 min. After copulation, the male and female appear to separate and return to their solitary habits. The results of this study complement the scarce information on the elusive kinkajous in the Neotropical forests.
期刊介绍:
Mammalia is an international, multidisciplinary, bimonthly journal devoted to the inventory, analysis and interpretation of mammalian diversity. It publishes original results on all aspects of the systematics and biology of mammals with a strong focus on ecology, including biodiversity analyses, distribution habitats, diet, predator-prey relationships, competition, community analyses and conservation of mammals. The journal also accepts submissions on sub-fossil or recently extinct mammals.