87 7 Feeding Ecology A Review José Carlos Motta-Junior, Diego Queirolo, and Adriana de Arruda Bueno INTRODUCTION General biological studies on the maned wolf ( Chrysocyon brachyurus ) (Illiger, 1815) and par- ticularly its feeding ecology have mostly involved captive individuals (Silveira, 1968; Kleiman, 1972; Brady & Ditton, 1979; Garcia 1983; Dietz 1984; Barboza et al. 1994). Few have been done in the wild; Dietz’s (1984) work is the most representative of these and until recently was one of the most complete. Previously, Azara (1801), Goeldi (1893), Krieg (1940), Lund (1950), Cabrera (1958), Langguth (1975), Carvalho (1976), Garcia (1983), and Bartmann and Bartmann (1986), among oth- ers, mentioned the feeding habits of the species in short observations or analyses of small amounts of feces or stomach contents, but no systematic study had been done. Dietz (1985), in a review on the biology of the species, made a concise statement on the maned wolf’s diet: “diet consisted largely of fruits and small mammals, and changed with seasonal availability of food.” After the end of the 1980s, a set of studies appeared focusing on the species’ diet in the wild in several localities of the species’ distribution, mainly situated in central and southeast Brazil (Motta- Junior et al. 1996; Motta-Junior 1997, 2000; Ferraz 1999; Aragona & Setz 2001; Juarez & Marinho- Filho 2002; Jácomo et al. 2004; Bueno et al. 2002; Santos et al. 2003; Silva & Talamoni 2003; Bueno & Motta-Junior 2004, 2006, 2009; Belentani et al. 2005; Cheida 2005; Queirolo & Motta-Junior 2007; Rodrigues et al. 2007; Massara 2009), Argentina (Soler & Casanave 2007), and Bolivia (Castro & Emmons 2012). Most of these areas were natural parks or reserves, with fewer studies being con- ducted at disturbed sites including ranches and farms with different kinds of intensive use. The feeding habits were studied in terms of percentage of occurrence of each food item with regard to the total number of feces (Schaller 1983; Juarez & Marinho-Filho 2002) or in terms of CONTENTS Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 87 Study Areas ...................................................................................................................................... 88 General Diet ..................................................................................................................................... 89 Prey and Fruit Size Distribution....................................................................................................... 91 Food Intake and Bioenergetics ......................................................................................................... 92 Seasonality and Functional Response .............................................................................................. 92 Prey and Fruit Selection ................................................................................................................... 93 Trophic Relationship with Other Carnivores ................................................................................... 94 The Maned Wolf as a Seed Disperser .............................................................................................. 94 Habitat of Prey and Fruits ................................................................................................................ 94 Further Studies on Feeding Ecology ................................................................................................ 94 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................ 95 References ........................................................................................................................................ 96 AU: The sentence beginning ‘Dietz (1985), ...’ has been rewritten. Please check the meaning. AU: Please provide complete details for Belentani et al. (2005) to add to the reference list. AU: The sentence beginning ‘The feeding habits were ...’ has been changed. Please check the meaning. AU: The sentence beginning ‘Previously, Azara...’ has been rewritten. Please check the meaning. K14911_C007.indd 87 21/06/13 3:45 PM