Responses of ungulates to seasonal inundations in the Amazon floodplain

Abstract

ABSTRACT Terrestrial ungulates use different strategies to cope with widespread annual flooding of the Amazon basin. Red brocket deer ( Mazama americana ) and collared peccary ( Tayassu tajacu ) retreat to floodplain islands and shift from a frugivorous to a woody browse diet. However, both white-lipped peccary ( Tayassu pecari ) and lowland tapir ( Tapirus terrestris ) diets are unaffected by inundations; in the case of white-lipped peccary because they migrate into and out of flooded areas and in the case of lowland tapir because of their semi-aquatic nature. These-strategies of white-lipped peccary and lowland tapir enable them to exploit the greater fruit production of flooded forests more frequently than brocket deer and collared peccary.