Yellow armadillos (Euphractus sexcinctus) can predate on vertebrates as large as a chicken
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Vania Cristina Foster
,
Grasiela Porfirio
Abstract
Food habits of yellow armadillos have been reported to include mainly plant material and invertebrates. Although predation on medium vertebrates is unexpected, yellow armadillos present strategies to subjugate medium vertebrates. Here, we report events of predation upon domestic chickens by yellow armadillos in the Brazilian Pantanal. We installed 20 Tomahawk traps, each baited with one live chicken to capture felines and, throughout 15 days of trapping, we captured two yellow armadillos. Both killed the chickens and ate most of them. These events represent a new uppermost limit of prey size for yellow armadillos.
Funding source: Fundação de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul
Funding source: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Award Identifier / Grant number: 23/200.652/2013
Award Identifier / Grant number: 311001/2012-2
Funding statement: Thanks are due to H. Concone for help during fieldwork, to A.M. Abba for sharing his knowledge with us and comments on early drafts of the manuscript, to the San Francisco Hotel Ranch for logistical support, and to the Instituto Homem Pantaneiro for the Tomahawk traps and overall provisions. VCF was supported by a scholarship grant from Fundação de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul (23/200.652/2013) and EF by research grant from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (311001/2012-2).
Acknowledgments:
Thanks are due to H. Concone for help during fieldwork, to A.M. Abba for sharing his knowledge with us and comments on early drafts of the manuscript, to the San Francisco Hotel Ranch for logistical support, and to the Instituto Homem Pantaneiro for the Tomahawk traps and overall provisions. VCF was supported by a scholarship grant from Fundação de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul (23/200.652/2013) and EF by research grant from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (311001/2012-2).
Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.
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©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Original Studies
- Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off Torres, Brazil: group characteristics, movements, and insights into the role of the Brazilian-Uruguayan wintering ground
- Seasonal variation in the diet of the grey goral (Naemorhedus goral) in Machiara National Park (MNP), Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan
- Environmental factors affecting the distribution of three armadillo species (Xenarthra, Dasypodidae) in Argentina
- The heterogeneity of Caatinga biome: an overview of the bat fauna
- Seasonality and habitat influence on bat assemblage structure in an urban Atlantic Forest remnant from Southeastern Brazil
- Geographic morphometric and environmental differentiation of the water opossum, genus Chironectes Illiger, 1811 (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)
- Genetic variation in Heteromys nelsoni (Rodentia: Heteromyidae) reveals its possible natural extinction
- Genetic differentiation of the Korean striped field mouse, Apodemus agrarius (Muridae, Rodentia), based on microsatellite polymorphism
- The Persian squirrel of Kurdistan Province, western Iran: what determines its geographic distribution?
- Short Notes
- Geographical extension of Chaetodipus fallax (Rodentia: Heteromyidae) in the Baja California Peninsula
- Yellow armadillos (Euphractus sexcinctus) can predate on vertebrates as large as a chicken
- Filling the gap: first record of the transparent-winged big-eared bat Histiotus diaphanopterus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in southwestern Brazil
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Original Studies
- Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off Torres, Brazil: group characteristics, movements, and insights into the role of the Brazilian-Uruguayan wintering ground
- Seasonal variation in the diet of the grey goral (Naemorhedus goral) in Machiara National Park (MNP), Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan
- Environmental factors affecting the distribution of three armadillo species (Xenarthra, Dasypodidae) in Argentina
- The heterogeneity of Caatinga biome: an overview of the bat fauna
- Seasonality and habitat influence on bat assemblage structure in an urban Atlantic Forest remnant from Southeastern Brazil
- Geographic morphometric and environmental differentiation of the water opossum, genus Chironectes Illiger, 1811 (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)
- Genetic variation in Heteromys nelsoni (Rodentia: Heteromyidae) reveals its possible natural extinction
- Genetic differentiation of the Korean striped field mouse, Apodemus agrarius (Muridae, Rodentia), based on microsatellite polymorphism
- The Persian squirrel of Kurdistan Province, western Iran: what determines its geographic distribution?
- Short Notes
- Geographical extension of Chaetodipus fallax (Rodentia: Heteromyidae) in the Baja California Peninsula
- Yellow armadillos (Euphractus sexcinctus) can predate on vertebrates as large as a chicken
- Filling the gap: first record of the transparent-winged big-eared bat Histiotus diaphanopterus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in southwestern Brazil
