Garbino Guilherme S T, Semedo Thiago B F, Miranda Everton B P
Departamento de Biologia Animal, Museu de Zoologia João Moojen, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil.
BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal.
Am J Primatol. 2024 Jan;86(1):e23567. doi: 10.1002/ajp.23567. Epub 2023 Oct 17.
The goal of this study is to provide a taphonomic analysis of bone fragments found in harpy eagle nests in the Brazilian Amazonia, utilizing the largest sample of prey remains collected to date. Harpy eagle kill samples were collected from nine nests, between June 2016 and December 2020 in Mato Grosso, Brazil. We identified the specimens, calculated the number of identified specimens (NISP) and minimum number of individuals (MNI). These metrics were used to estimate bone survivability and fragmentation. A total of 1661 specimens (NISP) were collected, representing a minimum number of 234 individuals (MNI). We identified at least nine species of primates, which represent 63.8% of the individuals in the kill sample. Harpy eagles preyed mostly on the medium-sized capuchin and bearded saki monkeys (28.2% of the MNI), and two-toed sloths (17.7% of the MNI). The large woolly monkeys also represented a significant portion of the sample (11.5% of the MNI). Three distinct patterns of bone survivability were found, one characterizing two-toed sloths, another characterizing medium-sized monkeys, and a third typical of woolly monkeys. We conclude that harpy eagle predation leaves an identifiable signature on the prey with a bone survivability pattern specific to each taxon. The intertaxon variations observed in the taphonomic signatures of harpy eagle kills should be taken into account when evaluating the potential influence of these raptors as accumulators of bone material in both paleontological and neontological assemblages.
本研究的目的是利用迄今为止收集到的最大一批猎物残骸样本，对在巴西亚马逊地区的食猿雕巢穴中发现的骨骼碎片进行埋藏学分析。2016年6月至2020年12月期间，在巴西马托格罗索州，从9个巢穴收集了食猿雕捕杀的样本。我们对标本进行了鉴定，计算了鉴定标本的数量（NISP）和最小个体数（MNI）。这些指标用于估计骨骼的生存能力和破碎情况。总共收集了1661个标本（NISP），代表至少234个个体（MNI）。我们鉴定出至少9种灵长类动物，它们占捕杀样本中个体的63.8%。食猿雕主要捕食中型卷尾猴和髯僧面猴（占MNI的28.2%）以及二趾树懒（占MNI的17.7%）。大型绒毛猴在样本中也占了相当大的比例（占MNI的11.5%）。发现了三种不同的骨骼生存能力模式，一种是二趾树懒的特征模式，另一种是中型猴子的特征模式，第三种是绒毛猴特有的模式。我们得出结论，食猿雕的捕食在猎物身上留下了可识别的印记，每种分类单元都有特定的骨骼生存能力模式。在评估这些猛禽作为古生物学和现代生物群落中骨材料积累者的潜在影响时，应考虑到食猿雕捕杀的埋藏学特征中观察到的分类单元间差异。
