Alexandrino Eduardo R, Bogoni Juliano A, Navarro Ana B, Bovo Alex A A, Gonçalves Rafael M, Charters Jacob D, Domini Juan A, Ferraz Katia M P M B
University of São Paulo, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, Forest Sciences Department, Wildlife Ecology, Management and Conservation Lab (LEMaC). Pádua Dias, Av., P.O. Box 09, Piracicaba/SP 13418-900, Brazil.
Animals (Basel). 2019 Jun 13;9(6):351. doi: 10.3390/ani9060351.
Wildlife living within urban ecosystems have to adapt or perish. Red-legged Seriema, a large terrestrial bird, are rare in urban ecosystems, however, they have been reported in a medium-sized Brazilian city. We investigated the reasons for this occurrence as well as their behavior. We assessed the distribution of Seriemas (including fledglings), free-ranging cats, and cat-feeding points provided by humans, and past records of Seriemas in the study area. We discovered that Seriemas are sharing spatial resources with cats without apparent conflicts, and intraspecific competition was important to define the spatial distribution of Seriemas. This species is able to use human-made structures to improve territory defense and opportunistic foraging. Direct and indirect human food provisioning is helping them to survive in the studied area, but is also facilitating the domestication process, which may cause future conflicts with humans and cats. Although Seriemas have inhabited the studied urban area for years, they are still adapting their behaviors for urban life, as they have not yet perceived the dangers of automotive traffic. Our study corroborates that wild species may adapt to urban areas driven by human contact, but it also acts as a trap for the adaptive process.
生活在城市生态系统中的野生动物必须适应环境，否则将面临灭绝。红腿叫鹤是一种大型陆生鸟类，在城市生态系统中较为罕见，但在巴西的一个中型城市中曾有过相关报道。我们对其出现的原因及其行为进行了调查。我们评估了叫鹤（包括雏鸟）、散养猫以及人类设置的喂猫点的分布情况，还有研究区域内叫鹤的过往记录。我们发现叫鹤正在与猫共享空间资源，且未出现明显冲突，种内竞争对于确定叫鹤的空间分布至关重要。该物种能够利用人造建筑来加强领地防御并进行机会性觅食。人类直接或间接提供食物有助于它们在研究区域内生存，但同时也加速了驯化过程，这可能会导致未来与人类和猫产生冲突。尽管叫鹤已在研究的城市区域栖息多年，但它们仍在适应城市生活，因为它们尚未意识到汽车交通的危险。我们的研究证实，野生物种可能会因与人类接触而适应城市环境，但这一适应过程也可能成为一个陷阱。
