Historically, the collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu) occurred throughout much of Texas including the northern portion of the Texas Hill Country. Remaining peccary populations were extirpated in much of their former range due to over harvest and habitat loss. In 2004, efforts to restore peccary populations to the Texas Hill Country began when Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists translocated 29 collared peccaries into the 2,157 ha, Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area (MMWMA). I evaluated the success of peccary translocations for mixed and intact family groups by comparing survival, ranges, and dispersal of translocated, radio-tagged peccaries. In addition, I evaluated two release methods (soft versus hard) to determine differences in population demographics. I found that peccary ranges and dispersal patterns did not differ (P > 0.05) between intact and mixed groups or release method (soft versus hard). However, I did find that peccary fidelity to release sites was greater for soft releases of family groups. Individuals from the soft release group dispersed the shortest distance and stayed on MMWMA. Only 2 individuals from the hard releases stayed on MMWMA while the rest (19 individuals) dispersed 4-8 km. Future peccary translocations should emphasize the release method employed and family structure of individuals released to improve translocation effectiveness in establishing populations in target areas.

Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2018-08-20T12:17:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Diogo Joffily.pdf: 993690 bytes, checksum: c5e8df7300d4f2e09eb55e7f60f4f1a9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-20T12:17:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Diogo Joffily.pdf: 993690 bytes, checksum: c5e8df7300d4f2e09eb55e7f60f4f1a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-17 / The state of Rio de Janeiro is in the national and international route of the traffic of wild animals. The numbers of apprehensions in this state are raised and the CETAS-RJ receives a great number of animals per year. Projects of release and reintroduction of wild animals combined with scientific research must gain space so that destination of these animals to the natural environment can occur in an objective way. The objective of the study was to develop procedures for release, with individuals of Aratinga leucophthalma species, taking in consideration behavior characteristics, the social structure, the alimentary habits and to accomplish the monitoring of the animals during the release and the post-release, looking for results that come to aid in future projects. The work was accomplished at three different places: the CETAS-RJ, ocurred the handling before the release and the study of the feeding in captivity; the campus of the UFRRJ, where field work related with the feeding in free life was don; and in the RPPN S?o Benedito Farm in Rio Claro-RJ, where the release and the post-release monitoring ocurred. The work was accomplished between September 2008 and July 2010. The handling before the release was done by the preparation of a nursery to house 30 animals. The animals were grouped by flight capacity and domestication level. This stage was also composed by the accomplishment of clinical and labs exams, individual demarcation of the animals through rings and sexing exam. Of the selected animals there was prevalence of males. According to the clinical exams was not verified any aspect to make unfeasible the work. The study of the feeding in captivity was made through analysis of the supplied food and the amount of leftovers, verifying the preference through the alimentary behavior. Preference of the birds was revealed by the sunflower seed and the need of the maintenance and elaboration of new balanced diets appropriated to release programs. The field work tried to describe the alimentary items of species from the Psittacidae family. The importance of exotic vegetable species was revealed as food source for birds of the Psittacidae family in the campus. From the ten alimentary items observed only three were from native species. The release was accomplished by the model of soft release, after a period of acclimatization in the release area, which preceded the opening of the nursery. After the opening of the nursery a food support was maintained inside and outside of the nursery and the monitoring was accomplished collecting data in daily accomp. The birds went increasing gradually the distance traveled after the release and they were incorporating themselves to groups from the area. The soft release model used in this work guaranteed the success in the process of rehabilitation of these birds. The food supports maintained after the opening of the nursery were extremely important to guarantee the nutrition of the birds during the first days after the release, and to give them strength for recognition of the area and to look for new food sources. / O Rio de Janeiro est? na rota nacional e internacional do tr?fico de animais silvestres. S?o elevados os n?meros de apreens?es realizadas nesse estado e o CETAS-RJ recebe um grande n?mero de animais por ano. Projetos de soltura e reintrodu??o de animais silvestres, aliados a pesquisas cient?ficas devem ganhar espa?o nesse cen?rio para que o retorno desses animais ? natureza ocorra de forma objetiva e segura. O objetivo do estudo foi desenvolver procedimentos para soltura, atrav?s de experimentos com indiv?duos da esp?cie Aratinga leucophthalma, levando em considera??o suas caracter?sticas comportamentais, estrutura social, h?bitos alimentares e ainda, realizar o monitoramento dos animais durante a soltura e o per?odo p?s-soltura, buscando resultados que venham auxiliar futuros projetos. O trabalho foi realizado em tr?s locais diferentes sendo eles: o CETAS-RJ, onde ocorreu o manejo antes da soltura e o estudo da alimenta??o em cativeiro; o campus da UFRRJ, onde foi feito o trabalho de campo relacionado com a alimenta??o em vida livre; e a RPPN Fazenda S?o Benedito em Rio Claro-RJ, onde ocorreu a soltura e o monitoramento p?s-soltura. O per?odo de desenvolvimento do projeto foi entre setembro de 2008 e julho de 2010. O manejo pr?soltura foi constitu?do pelo preparo de um viveiro para alojar 30 indiv?duos de A. leucophthalma. Os animais foram selecionados de acordo com sua capacidade de v?o e o n?vel de domestica??o. Esta etapa foi composta ainda pela realiza??o de exames cl?nicos e laboratoriais, pela marca??o individual dos animais atrav?s de anilhas e a sexagem. Dos animais selecionados, houve predom?nio de machos em rela??o a f?meas. No tocante a exames cl?nicos realizados, n?o foi constatado nenhum aspecto que pudesse inviabilizar o trabalho. O estudo da alimenta??o em cativeiro foi feito atrav?s da an?lise do alimento fornecido e a quantidade de sobra, verificando a prefer?ncia atrav?s do comportamento alimentar. Foi revelada prefer?ncia das aves pela semente de girassol e a necessidade da manuten??o e elabora??o de novas dietas balanceadas, voltadas para programas de soltura. O trabalho de campo buscou descrever os itens alimentares de esp?cies da fam?lia Psittacidae. Foi revelada a import?ncia de esp?cies vegetais ex?ticas como fonte de alimento para aves da fam?lia Psittacidae no campus da UFRRJ. Dos dez itens alimentares observados apenas tr?s eram provenientes de esp?cies nativas. A soltura foi realizada pelo modelo de soltura branda, ap?s um per?odo de aclimata??o na ?rea de soltura, que antecederam a abertura do viveiro. Foram mantidos suportes alimentares dentro e fora do viveiro durante a soltura e o monitoramento, que foi realizado atrav?s de acompanhamento di?rio e coleta de dados. As aves foram gradualmente aumentando as dist?ncias percorridas ap?s a soltura e foram se incorporando a bandos da regi?o. O modelo de soltura branda, utilizado neste trabalho, garantiu sucesso no processo de reintrodu??o dessas aves. Os suportes alimentares mantidos ap?s a abertura do viveiro foram de fundamental import?ncia para garantir a nutri??o das aves nos primeiros dias ap?s a soltura, dar-lhes for?as para reconhecimento da ?rea em que foram soltas bem como buscar novas fontes de alimento.

Reintroduction of captive-bred Western Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) in the Nicola Valley, British Columbia, has had limited success in increasing the local breeding population. Traditionally, yearling captive-hatched Burrowing Owls that were paired and released into artificial burrows in the field, held overnight, and provided with supplemental food throughout the breeding season (hard release) have had high post-release dispersal and mortality. In 2005 and 2006, I used an alternative soft-release technique to test for an improvement upon the hard-release technique. The soft release followed the same procedure as the traditional hard release but also included enclosures around burrow entrances to contain the owls for a 2-week period in the field prior to release. I compared immediate post-release dispersal, seasonal survival, and reproductive success for 37 hard-released and 30 soft-released pairs. I radio-tagged 39 of these released owls in order to accurately monitor their activities, regardless of whether they remained at release sites or dispersed. The soft-release technique led to 20% more owls remaining at the release sites, 14% more owls surviving the breeding season, and 20% more owl pairs fledging juveniles. In addition to investigating adult survival and reproductive success, I examined post-fledging juvenile survival, local recruitment, and habitat use, and adult prey consumption behaviour in order to assess the potential of these aspects to limit the success of the reintroduction. Survival and local recruitment rates of the juveniles of captive-bred adults released with two different techniques were similar to that of juveniles of wild adults in the same study area or in other parts of the Burrowing Owl's range. Juvenile habitat-selection analyse sidentified the importance of rangeland, and comparisons of prey consumption revealed the rapid development of foraging abilities by captive-bred Burrowing Owls. I concluded that these aspects of the owl's ecology were not negatively affected by a captive upbringing, and therefore not likely limiting the success of the reintroduction. Overall, the use of an enclosure-based soft-release technique addresses major limitations to the success of releases, and shows promise for increasing the breeding population in this region. This approach can also be applied to recovery efforts throughout the Burrowing Owls' range, and provide guidelines for other species' reintroduction programs.

Reintroduction of captive-bred Western Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) in the Nicola Valley, British Columbia, has had limited success in increasing the local breeding population. Traditionally, yearling captive-hatched Burrowing Owls that were paired and released into artificial burrows in the field, held overnight, and provided with supplemental food throughout the breeding season (hard release) have had high post-release dispersal and mortality. In 2005 and 2006, I used an alternative soft-release technique to test for an improvement upon the hard-release technique. The soft release followed the same procedure as the traditional hard release but also included enclosures around burrow entrances to contain the owls for a 2-week period in the field prior to release. I compared immediate post-release dispersal, seasonal survival, and reproductive success for 37 hard-released and 30 soft-released pairs. I radio-tagged 39 of these released owls in order to accurately monitor their activities, regardless of whether they remained at release sites or dispersed. The soft-release technique led to 20% more owls remaining at the release sites, 14% more owls surviving the breeding season, and 20% more owl pairs fledging juveniles. In addition to investigating adult survival and reproductive success, I examined post-fledging juvenile survival, local recruitment, and habitat use, and adult prey consumption behaviour in order to assess the potential of these aspects to limit the success of the reintroduction. Survival and local recruitment rates of the juveniles of captive-bred adults released with two different techniques were similar to that of juveniles of wild adults in the same study area or in other parts of the Burrowing Owl's range. Juvenile habitat-selection analyse sidentified the importance of rangeland, and comparisons of prey consumption revealed the rapid development of foraging abilities by captive-bred Burrowing Owls. I concluded that these aspects of the owl's ecology were not negatively affected by a captive upbringing, and therefore not likely limiting the success of the reintroduction. Overall, the use of an enclosure-based soft-release technique addresses major limitations to the success of releases, and shows promise for increasing the breeding population in this region. This approach can also be applied to recovery efforts throughout the Burrowing Owls' range, and provide guidelines for other species' reintroduction programs.

Reintroduction of captive-bred Western Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) in the Nicola Valley, British Columbia, has had limited success in increasing the local breeding population. Traditionally, yearling captive-hatched Burrowing Owls that were paired and released into artificial burrows in the field, held overnight, and provided with supplemental food throughout the breeding season (hard release) have had high post-release dispersal and mortality. In 2005 and 2006, I used an alternative soft-release technique to test for an improvement upon the hard-release technique. The soft release followed the same procedure as the traditional hard release but also included enclosures around burrow entrances to contain the owls for a 2-week period in the field prior to release. I compared immediate post-release dispersal, seasonal survival, and reproductive success for 37 hard-released and 30 soft-released pairs. I radio-tagged 39 of these released owls in order to accurately monitor their activities, regardless of whether they remained at release sites or dispersed. The soft-release technique led to 20% more owls remaining at the release sites, 14% more owls surviving the breeding season, and 20% more owl pairs fledging juveniles. In addition to investigating adult survival and reproductive success, I examined post-fledging juvenile survival, local recruitment, and habitat use, and adult prey consumption behaviour in order to assess the potential of these aspects to limit the success of the reintroduction. Survival and local recruitment rates of the juveniles of captive-bred adults released with two different techniques were similar to that of juveniles of wild adults in the same study area or in other parts of the Burrowing Owl's range. Juvenile habitat-selection analyse sidentified the importance of rangeland, and comparisons of prey consumption revealed the rapid development of foraging abilities by captive-bred Burrowing Owls. I concluded that these aspects of the owl's ecology were not negatively affected by a captive upbringing, and therefore not likely limiting the success of the reintroduction. Overall, the use of an enclosure-based soft-release technique addresses major limitations to the success of releases, and shows promise for increasing the breeding population in this region. This approach can also be applied to recovery efforts throughout the Burrowing Owls' range, and provide guidelines for other species' reintroduction programs. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate