Home range of pampas deer in a human–dominated agro–ecosystem

Abstract

The subspecies of pampas deer Ozotocerus bezoarticus uruguayensis is an endemic and endangered cervid from southeast Uruguay. However, knowledge regarding its home range requirements in agroecosystems is scarce. Our aim was to survey ten radio–collared pampas deer for two years to monitor their movements. The mean home–range size was 5.54 ± 3.18 km2. The core area size for all individuals monitored was 0.87 km2, which concurs with grazing crops for beef cattle. The population showed philopatric behavior and no significant differences were detected in the total area of occupation in respect to sex and season.