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Journal of Biological Sciences

Year: 2006 | Volume: 6 | Issue: 5 | Page No.: 840-846
DOI: 10.3923/jbs.2006.840.846
Plants Composing the Diet of Marsh and Pampas Deer in the Brazilian Pantanal Wetland and Their Ethnomedicinal Properties
Sonia S. Costa, Daniela B. Oliveira, Aniela M. Manco, Giany O. De Melo, Jose Luis P. Cordeiro, Solange Zaniolo, Raquel Negrelle and Luiz F.B. Oliveira

Abstract: Marsh deer Blastocerus dichotomus (Illiger, 1815) and pampas deer Ozotoceros bezoarticus (Linnaeus, 1758) are two wild endangered species of South America whose foraging habits are still little known. This study focuses on the plant species consumed by both deer living at a Private Natural Heritage Reserve in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland as well as the ethnomedicinal properties of those plants. The diet composition was determined by direct observation of foraging activity of these animals during wet and dry seasons. Twenty-one plant species, belonging to thirteen botanical families, were inventoried. Among them, eight plant species, identified as Andira cuyabensis, Cecropia pachystachya, Desmodium distortum, Lippia alba, Ludwigia nervosa, Phyllanthus amarus, Polygonum acuminatum and Vernonia scabra, are used in Brazil for their healing properties. Five other plant species belong to medicinal botanical genera such as Mimosa, Pavonia, Sabicea, Sebastiania and Sida. Marsh and pampas deer seem to behave as grazer and browser into the delimited area chosen for our study, feeding on grasses, shoots, leaves and flowers of several shrubs and trees. This study contributes to the knowledge of the feeding habits of those deer and may help with the management of conservation strategies into that Natural Reserve.

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How to cite this article
Sonia S. Costa, Daniela B. Oliveira, Aniela M. Manco, Giany O. De Melo, Jose Luis P. Cordeiro, Solange Zaniolo, Raquel Negrelle and Luiz F.B. Oliveira, 2006. Plants Composing the Diet of Marsh and Pampas Deer in the Brazilian Pantanal Wetland and Their Ethnomedicinal Properties. Journal of Biological Sciences, 6: 840-846.

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