Mazama americana (Erxleben, 1777)

Voss, Robert S. & Fleck, David W., 2017, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 2: Xenarthra, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, And Sirenia, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2017 (417), pp. 1-1 : 1-

Mazama americana (Erxleben, 1777)

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 6): Boca Río Yaquerana (FMNH 88806–88808), Nuevo San Juan (MUSM 11185), Orosa (AMNH 74117), Santa Cecelia (FMNH 86900).

OTHER INTERFLUVIAL RECORDS: Choncó ( Amanzo, 2006), Río Yavarí (Salovaara et al., 2003), Río Yavarí-Mirím (Salovaara et al., 2003), San Pedro (Valqui, 1999), Tapiche ( Jorge and Velazco, 2006).

IDENTIFICATION: Several of our voucher specimens of red brockets (FMNH 86900, 88807, 88808) are immature individuals that retain their milk premolars (dP2–dP4), but only one of these (FMNH 88807) has the immature markings of a fawn. Of our three adult specimens, two are antlerless females (AMNH 74117, MUSM 11185) and the third (FMNH 88806) is a very young male with tiny antlers that measure less than 20 mm (not including the bony pedicel). In pelage characters (the FMNH specimens are accompanied by well-preserved skins) and adult cranial

measurements ( table 19 ), this material agrees closely with Husson’s (1978) descriptions and measurements of almost-topotypical (Surinamese) material of Mazama americana .

Although the identification of our material does not seem problematic based on morphological criteria, karyological and molecular studies of Mazama americana suggest that specimens sharing the red brocket phenotype are genetically heterogeneous. In fact, phylogenetic analyses of cytochrome- b sequence data do not support the monophyly of Mazama americana , which was recovered as two weakly supported haplogroups in an unresolved polytomy with Odocoileus hemionus , O. virginianus , and two other species of Mazama by Duarte et al. (2008). Subsequently, Abril et al. (2010) recovered two haplogroups of M. americana with stronger support by sequencing the mitochondrial control region and by omitting sequences from some of the other odocoileine taxa included in Duarte et al.’s (2008) analysis. Abril et al. (2010) referred to these haplogroups as morphologically cryptic “species,” but this conclusion is not supported by their karyological data. 17 In effect, the taxonomic interpretation of the cytogenetic and molecular data at hand is not straightforward, nor is it known which (if either) of the two haplogroups recovered in published analyses of mtDNA sequence data occurs in French Guiana (the type locality of M. americana ).

Grubb (2005) recognized numerous allegedly valid subspecies of Mazama americana for which (as usual) he cited no supporting revisionary study. According to Cabrera (1961), the western Amazonian form is M. a. zamora Allen, 1915, the type locality of which is in the southeastern Andean foothills of Ecuador. In light of molecular studies cited above, a comprehensive taxonomic revision of the many nominal taxa currently treated as synonyms or subspecies of

M. americana is clearly needed.

ETHNOBIOLOGY: The red brocket is called senad piu (“reddish deer”). The Matses recognize and name two varieties of this species, senad maçhëşh (“black-headed deer”) and senad bëdimpi (“little spotted deer”). The latter would seem to designate young individuals, yet the Matses insist that this variety does not grow any larger, does not lose its spots, and runs as fast as an adult. Additionally, a third variety is simply called senad piu. 18 The spotted variety is rarely encountered and is only found in upland forest, the senad piu variety is the most commonly encountered, and the black-headed variety is the largest.

The red brocket is a primary game animal for the Matses. Deer fat sticks to the mouth when one eats it, so the Matses are not fond of deer fat.

However, lean meat is appreciated, and a red brocket carcass has a lot of meat on it. The Matses sometimes keep fawns as pets (fig. 21), but tame deer wander away when they become adults.

Deer are difficult to kill because they almost always run off before one can shoot them. The Matses often kill deer when they happen upon one that is sleeping in the daytime and can be approached before it wakes up. The Matses often visit mineral licks during the day to look for deer and other game species that visit mineral licks.

Now that the Matses have flashlights, they hunt at night by walking down forest paths. The intention of night hunting is primarily to kill pacas, which are common in secondary forest near villages, especially when peach-palm ( Bactris gasipaes [ Arecaceae ]) fruits are ripe (from January to March). Hunters also occasionally encounter red brockets that come to secondary forest near villages at night, and they occasionally kill deer while waiting at night for game at a mineral lick.

Slain deer are prepared for packing home in a certain way (fig. 22). The front legs are lashed to the neck with epiphyte stems, and the hind legs are lashed to the front legs. Then a strip of the inner bark of certain types of trees is tied to the neck and rump to make a tumpline. If the deer is large and is killed far from the village, it is gutted before being tied up for carrying. A hunter might also skin and butcher the deer and carry it back in a palm leaf basket that is woven on the spot.

Young men and women do not eat the head, lest they stab themselves in the thigh with a sharp (antlerlike) stick when chasing after an animal while hunting (women often help men chase down animals, especially while guiding hunting dogs). Old people, however, may eat the head.

When a hunter kills, eats, or sees a deer, the deer’s spirit may make one of his children ill. Occasionally the deer’s spirit makes a child ill even if there has been no contact with a deer. The symptoms for contagion by deer spirits are the same as those by tapir spirits: high fever and rolling of eyes into the back of the head. When a child exhibits these symptoms after the father has had contact with a deer, a medicine man will collect certain medicinal plants (“deer medicine”) and bathe the child with an infusion of the leaves. Interestingly, “tapir medicine” is also used to treat ailments caused by deer spirits, suggesting that the Matses perceive an affinity between these two ungulates.

MATSES NATURAL HISTORY: Red brockets are reddish, the color of some dogs. Males have antlers, but females do not. The antlers are very hard. Red brockets have a white tail, large ears, and large nostrils. Their hindquarters have a lot of meat. They have thin lower legs and ankles, and two parallel hooves, similar to those of a collared peccary, but smaller. The young are spotted.

Red brockets walk around in all habitats, including upland and floodplain forest, primary and secondary forest, and along streams and rivers. They come to the edges of Matses swiddens and sometimes enter Matses swiddens to eat manioc leaves.

Red brockets do not make nests. They clear a small patch of ground and lie down to sleep, curled up on their sides like dogs. In the daytime they often sleep in forest with an open canopy. They do not sleep in the same place twice.

Red brockets are mostly nocturnal. They sleep during the day. Sometimes they walk around during the day, but not when it is dry. They walk around in the rain by day or night. They travel far, looking for leaves and fruits to eat. The places where they eat fruits are swept clear of leaf litter. After eating their fill, they lie down to rest, often in a sunny spot in a treefall, in streamside forest on high ground where a stream bends, at the foot of a hill, or on a hilltop.

Red brockets visit several different mineral licks by day or at night, and they always return to the same mineral licks. They make the water in the mineral lick turbid with their feet and then slurp up the muddied water. Unlike tapirs and other animals that use mineral licks, red brocket deer do not eat the mud if the mineral lick is not waterlogged. Red brockets do not usually make paths, but one can find deer paths that lead to a mineral lick.

Red brockets are generally solitary. Very rarely two adults may be encountered together. The male does not live with the female. They mate when they encounter each other. The deer gives birth to a single young under the shelter of a stemless palm with large simple leaves, or at the edge of a blowdown. It suckles its newborn at the same place where it gave birth to it, lying on its side, like a dog does. It goes to drink muddied water at a mineral lick and then returns to suckle its young. Then it goes to eat ripe fruits and comes back to suckle its young again. The young deer stands up after two days and starts to walk around and forage with the mother. Once it is large and strong, it leaves its mother.

Red brockets are a favorite prey of jaguars and pumas. Large anacondas and black caimans occasionally capture deer.

Red brockets call out saying “mia” (a sort of high-pitched whine). Females call out saying “ooo” (a sort of howl) when they are in heat. They stamp their feet when they see a person at a distance (if they are not wary).

Red brockets eat the fruits of many types of dicot trees—particularly sweet fruits—including those of şhannëd (? Brosimum [ Moraceae ]), figs ( Ficus spp. [ Moraceae ]), şhëşhun ( Spondias mombin [ Anacardiaceae ]), taëpa (unidentified), and piuşh bëchi ( Helicostylis tomentosa [ Moraceae ]). They don’t just eat the pulp of the fruits, but also swallow the seeds. Their favorite dicot tree fruit is that of echo ( Jacaratia sp. [ Caricaceae ]), which is like a wild papaya. They also eat papayas that have fallen to the ground in Matses swiddens. They also eat the seeds of some palms, including those of bottle palms ( Iriartea deltoidea [ Arecaceae ]) and stilt palms ( Socratea exorrhiza [ Arecaceae ]). Red brockets also eat the leaves of many dicot trees and understory plants, including cecropia trees (Cecropia sp. [ Moraceae ]), which grow in secondary forest. They eat manioc leaves and papaya leaves when they come to Matses swiddens. Pet deer are fed papaya, echo fruits, and the otherwise discarded pulp of strained plantain beverages.

REMARKS: Matses interviews about red brockets include most of the well-established natural history facts about this widespread species, including its use of floodplain habitats and secondary vegetation (avoided by gray brockets); solitary habits; feline predators; mixed diet of fruit, seeds, and browse; and propensity for visiting mineral licks (e.g., Bodmer, 1989, 1991; Gayot et al., 2004; Tobler et al., 2009; Blake et al., 2013). Many other behavioral details, however, are not reported in the literature we consulted, including information about daily movements, geophagy, reptilian predators, and sexual vocalizations. Although the Matses say red brockets are mostly nocturnal, this is perhaps a result of local hunting pressure; at unhunted western Amazonian sites red brockets are often active by day ( Gómez et al., 2005; Blake et al., 2013).