Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T03:20:48.102Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radio-tracking observations on ranging and foraging patterns by kinkajous (Potos flavus) in French Guiana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Didier Julien-Laferriere
Didier Julien-Laferriere
Affiliation:
CNRS URA 1183, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Générale, 4 avenue du Petit-Château, 91800 Brunoy, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two kinkajous (Potos flavus) were equipped with radio-transmitters and tracked during a 14- and a 7-day period in a primary forest of French Guiana. Both individuals were strictly nocturnal. They moved between food patches (flowering or fruiting trees) during c. 65% of the night, visited food trees during c. 20%, while the remaining time was devoted to rest. Rest time tended to peak in the middle of the night, whereas distances travelled peaked at the beginning and the end of the night. Minimum and maximum home range areas, estimated from minimum area and minimum convex polygon methods respectively, reached 15.7 and 17.6 ha in the female, 26.6 and 39.5 ha in the male. Mean daily activity area amounted to 5.5 ha in the female, 11.3 ha in the male. Distances travelled in a night averaged 1495 m for the female, 2540 m for the male. In contrast to the female, the male used the periphery more intensively than the centre of its home range. Both individuals occupied several roosts located in the canopy, but one far more frequently than the others. The male's roosts were all situated in the periphery of the home range.

Kinkajous were observed feeding on flowers or fruits of 15 plant species. Among the 10 species exploited for fruits, at least seven were dispersed. Dispersal distances averaged 200 ± 75 m (13 seed dispersal occurrences for 16 defecations), while seed transit time varied from 45 min to 3 h 35 min. P. flavus appears to be nocturnal, solitary, a generalist fruit and flower-eater and an important seed dispersal agent.

Keywords

activity rhythmforagingFrench Guianafrugivoryhome rangekinkajouPotos flavusProcyonidaeNeotropical forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 19 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Atramentowicz, M. 1988. La frugivorie opportuniste de trois marsupiaux didelphidés de Guyane. Revue d'Ecologie (Terre et Vie) 43:47–57.Google Scholar
Bisbal, F. J. 1986. Food habits of some neotropical carnivores in Venezuela (Mammalia, Carnivora). Mammalia 50:329–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonaccorso, F. J., Glanz, W. E. & Sandford, C. M. 1980. Feeding assemblages of mammals at fruiting Dipteryx panamensis (Papilionaceae) trees in Panama: seed predation, dispersal, and parasitism. Revista de Biologia Tropical 28:61–72.Google Scholar
Boye, M., Cabaussel, G. & Perrot, Y. 1979. Climatologie. In Boyé, M. (ed.). Atlas des Départements Français d'Outre-Mer. 4. La Guyane. CNRS & ORSTOM, Paris.Google Scholar
Charles-Dominique, P. 1978. Ecologie et vie sociale de Nandinia binotata (Carnivore viverridé). Comparaison avec les prosimiens sympatriques du Gabon. Revue d'Ecologie (Terre et Vie) 32:477–528.Google Scholar
Charles-Dominique, P., Atramentowicz, M., Charles-Dominique, M., Gerard, H., Hladik, A., Hladik, C. M. & Prevost, M. F. 1981. Les mammifères frugivores arboricoles nocturnes d'une forêt guyanaise: inter-relations plantes – animaux. Revue d'Ecologie (Terre et Vie) 35:341–435.Google Scholar
Emmons, L. H. 1984. Geographic variations in densities and diversities of non-flying mammals in Amazonia. Biotropica 16:210–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmons, L. H. & Gentry, A. H. 1983. Tropical forest structure and the distribution of gliding and prehensile-tailed vertebrates. American Naturalist 121:513–524.Google Scholar
Estrada, A. & Coates-Estrada, R. 1985. A preliminary study of resource overlap between howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata) and other arboreal mammals in the tropical rain forest of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. American Journal of Primatology 9:27–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forget, P. M. 1990. Seed dispersal of Vouacapoua americana (Caesalpiniaceae) by caviomorph rodents in French Guiana. Journal of Tropical Ecology 6:459–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garber, P. A. 1986. The ecology of seed dispersal in two species of callitrichid primates (Saguinus mystax and Saguinus fuscicollis). American Journal of Primatology, 10:155–170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gautier-Hion, A., Gautier, J. P. & Quris, R. 1981. Forest structure and fruit availability as complementary factors influencing habitat use by a troop of monkeys (Cercopithecus cephus). Revue d'Ecologie (Terre et Vie) 35:511–536.Google Scholar
Gordon, G. 1974. Movements and activity of the shortnosed bandicoot Isoodon macrourus Gould (Marsupialia). Mammalia, 38:407–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heithaus, E. R. & Fleming, T. H. 1978. Foraging movements of a frugivorous bat, Carollia perspicillata (Phyllostomatidae). Ecological Monograph 48:127–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, H. F. 1986. Consequences of seed dispersal by birds: a case study from Central America. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 83 (Suppl.) 19–42.Google Scholar
Howe, H. F. & Vande Kerckove, G. A. 1979. Fecundity and seed dispersal of a tropical tree. Ecology 60:180–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janson, C. H. & Emmons, L. H. 1990. Ecological structure of the non-flying mammal community at Cosha Cashu Biological Station, Manu National Park, Peru. Pp. 314–338 in Gentry, A. H. (ed.). Four neotropical rain forests. Yale University Press, New-Haven.Google Scholar
Julien-Laferriere, D. 1989. Utilisation de l'espace et des ressources alimentaires chez Caluromys philander (Marsupialia, Didelphidae). Comparaison avec Potos flavus (Eutheria, Procyonídae). Thèse de Doctorat, Université Paris 13. 186 pp.Google Scholar
Julien-Laferriere, D. & Atramentowicz, M. 1990. Feeding and reproduction of three didelphid marsupials in two neotropical forests (French Guiana). Biotropica 22:404–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kavanau, J. L. & Ramos, J. 1972. Twilight and onset and cessation of carnivore activity. Journal of Wildlife Management 36:653–657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milton, K. 1984. The role of food-processing factors in primate food choice. Pp. 249–279 in Rodman, P. S. & Cant, J. G. H. (eds). Adaptations for foraging in non-human primates. Columbia University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poglayen-Neuwall, I. 1966. On the marking behavior of the kinkajou (Potos flavus Schreber). Zoologica 51:137–141.Google Scholar
Redford, K. H., Maclean Stearman, A. & Trager, J. C. 1989. The kinkajou (Potos flavus) as a myrmecophage. Mammalia 53:132–134.Google Scholar
Sabatier, D. 1985. Saisonnalité et déterminisme du pic de fructification en forêt guyanaise. Revue d'Ecologie (Tern it Vie) 40:289–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoener, T. W. 1981. An empirically based estimate of home range. Theoretical Population Biology 20:281–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, S. 1956. Non parametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. McGraw Hill, New York. 312 pp.Google Scholar
Walker, P. L. & Cant, J. G. H. 1977. A population survey of kinkajous (Potos flavus) in a seasonally dry tropical forest. Journal of Mammalogy 58:100–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warner, A. C. I. 1981. Rate of passage of digesta through the gut of mammals and birds. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews, Serie B, 51:789–820.Google Scholar