Condition
Endangered (EN) IUCN 3.1
Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia Order
:
Artiodactyla Family: Cervidae Subfamily
: Capreolinae
Gender: Blastocerus
Species: B. Binomial name
dichotomus Blastocerus dichotomus
(Illiger, 1815)
The marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus in Guaraní guasu puku) is the largest deer of South America, reaching 2 m in length and 1.20 m in height at the withers. Formerly
spread to throughout the subtropical area of \u200b\u200bthe continent, is today reduced to small isolated populations in the area of \u200b\u200bmarshes and lakes of the Paraná River basin and Paraguay and the Amazon region of Peru, Bolivia, for example. National Park Sonene (Peru), and National Park and Indigenous Territory Isiboro-Secure (Bolivia), and several National Parks of Argentina.
is recorded in Appendix I listing of CITES protected species.
It is also known as the marsh deer, deer island, deer Delta huaso mataco, calimgo epelve in Mocoví and tuff.
Habitat Inhabits
preferably in very wet or flooding, where their excellent swimming ability allows you to move easily, the density of vegetation protects it from predators and provides food. Description
Besides its size, the most recognizable feature of the marsh deer antler is the branched-present only in males, which reaches 6 cm long. The weight of an adult can reach 150 kg.
The deer's coat is reddish-brown, showing a darker shade in the winter. Shows white markings on the legs, around the eyes and ears flange. The legs are black below the hock and the muzzle. The tail is reddish lighter than the rest of the body at the top and black on the bottom, is about 10-15 cm long in the adult.
The hoof, large in relation to body size, features elastic webbing that helps in swimming and displacement in swampy areas, these being of great help to escape from their main predator, the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) . Habits
is predominantly nocturnal, although their behavior can vary according to season and specific environmental conditions. It does not form flocks, although the females stay with the young to maturity, occasionally observed small groups of up to five copies. It is territorial, moving in search of food throughout its habitable zone. During the dry season, if present, reduces their mobility to stay close to water courses.
is herbivorous, eating grasses, fruits and tender roots of the species in the area. Occasional forays into crops when the situation pushes it.
The mating season usually coincides with the end of summer, though it varies from animal to animal. Gestation lasts about 200 days. The offspring (usually one per female, but occasionally twins are born) born between October and November. Fawns have, like what happens with huemul pups, the coat of a color very similar to that of adults, not the typical white spots on most of the young deer. Conservation
natural predators of the marsh deer, the jaguar and puma, have disappeared almost completely from their habitat. The greatest threat to conservation was poaching, which sought the antlers as a trophy, today is relatively subdued.
The traditional habitat destruction is the greatest risk to the marsh deer. The dam altered Yacyretá an area where they lived several hundred copies, and the draining of swamps and marshes for livestock farming and threaten hundreds of acres in Argentina and Brazil each year. The transmission of contagious livestock diseases is another source of problems, although it has been found that the deer have no brucellosis.
considered extinct in Uruguay.
