Hunting practices in southwestern Amazonia: a comparative study of techniques, modalities, and baits among urban and rural hunters.

BACKGROUND: Hunting is a vital means of obtaining animal in various human populations. Hunters rely on their knowledge of species ecology and behavior to develop and employ hunting techniques and increase their chances of success. The comparison of the hunting practices of different human societies can shed light on the sustainability of hunting and the impact it has on species' populations. In this study, we examine and compare the techniques, modalities, and baits used by urban and rural hunters in Rondônia, a state in southwestern Amazonia, Brazil. We expected that rural hunters would use these elements and have greater knowledge when compared to urban hunters. We also expect that the use of specific hunting techniques and modalities will have greater selectivity and specificity of capture for rural hunters and that this knowledge will differ between groups. METHODS: We conducted 106 semi-structured interviews with rural and urban hunters from October 2018 to February 2020. We analyzed the data using PERMANOVA and Network analyses to compare and contrast the hunting practices of each group. RESULTS: We recorded four main hunting techniques divided into ten modalities with three techniques and seven modalities being the preferred choices among hunters. Waiting for at a Fruit Tree was cited as the primary technique employed by hunters living in urban and rural areas indicated. While the techniques and modalities were similar among hunters, the composition of species targeted and baits used differed between groups. Our network approach showed that modularity in urban areas was numerically lower than in rural areas. All species had one to more techniques associated with their capture. CONCLUSIONS: Hunters living in urban and rural environments showed high similarity in their practices, probably due to sharing similar environments to hunt containing similar species, as well as targeting preferably the same species.

Amblyomma ticks in animal carcasses hunted in Mapinguari National Park, Western Amazon, Brazil: New records on species and host-parasite relationships.

Ticks are obligatory parasites and transmit several pathogens to animals and humans. This study aimed to report the parasitism of ticks on carcasses of animals hunted by hunters from communities near Mapinguari National Park, at the shared border of Amazonas and Rondonia states, northern Brazil. The ticks were collected from heads of carcasses of the following animals: South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) and long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus beniensis). Six Amblyomma tick species were identified: Amblyomma coelebs, Amblyomma naponense, Amblyomma latepunctatum, Amblyomma oblongoguttatum, Amblyomma scalpturatum, Amblyomma triste and Amblyomma spp. The most abundant tick species were A. oblongoguttatum and A. scalpturatum. DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed on all ticks to test for the presence of rickettsial gltA gene fragments, but no amplification was observed. This study reports, for the first time, the parasitism of A. coelebs in the armadillo D. beniensis and the presence of A. triste in the states of Amazonas and Rondonia, updating the tick fauna to 24 and 39 species for these states, respectively.

Potential self-medication by brown titi monkeys, Plecturocebus brunneus, in an urban fragment forest in the Brazilian Amazon.

In this study, we report fur-rubbing behavior of brown titi monkeys, Plecturocebus brunneus, using chewed leaves from (Fabaceae) and Piper tuberculatum (Piperaceae). These reports were obtained during systematic monitoring of titi monkeys from May until December 2019 (218 h) in an urban fragment forest in the Brazilian Amazon. Both plant species contain chemical substances in their leaves that potentially repel ectoparasites. The genus Piper is known for its repelling action due to the presence of amides, alkaloids and benzoic acid. The presence of dogs, cats and human settlements may contribute to an increase of ectoparasites, making a potential self-medication function of fur rubbing in this primate species plausible.