Diet of the maned wolf, Chrysocyon brachyurus, in central Brazil

Analysis of 105 scats of the maned wolf ( Chrysocyon brachyurus ) collected in central Brazil yielded 304 occurrences of food items of which fruits of Solanum lycocarpum , rodents, and birds accounted for 61.5%. By analysis of minimum number of individual animals, rodents and birds were 75% of a total of 156 prey. On the other hand, fruits of S. lycocarpum and armadillos ( Dasypus spp.) were the bulk of the total estimated biomass consumption, yielding 63.7% in a total of 73.5 kg. Rodents were mostly captured during the dry season, while miscellaneous fruits were consumed mostly in the wet season. The consumption of S. lycocarpum fruits and armadillos was aseasonal. Small rodents were taken in about the ranks of abundance in the study area, but S. lycocarpum fruits were actively searched by maned wolves, for its occurrence is limited to secondary savanna. Prey and fruits typical of savanna (‘cerrado’) and grassland (‘campo’) were the bulk of species, occurrences, prey numbers, and biomass consumed. These findings reinforce the importance of conservation of cerrado and campo in central Brazil. Despite maned wolf being a vulnerable species, its feeding habits are opportunistic, and the main reasons for its decline are likely to be habitat destruction and human disturbance.