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Analysis of callouts made in relation to wild urban marmosets (Callithrix penicillata) and their implications for urban species management

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Abstract

In this study, we investigated what problems urban marmosets (Callithrix penicillata) face in a city environment through the analysis of responses to callouts (N = 348) made by the environmental police of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the period from 2002 to 2007. Our objective was to characterise the problems faced by the marmosets and human city dwellers. The environmental police responded to two types of callouts: (1) solicitation whereby a person called them to report a problem (N = 218); and (2) the report of a hurt or injured animal (N = 127). On average, one callout per week was made in relation to urban marmosets. We found no time of year effects in relation to callouts, or any effect of gender or age of the person making the callout (P > 0.05). Furthermore, we found no environmental (e.g. percentage of “green area”) or socioeconomical variables (e.g. salary levels) of the city’s administrative regions associated with callouts (P > 0.05). The majority of callouts resulted in the attempt to capture marmosets (N = 345), and usually, only one animal was captured (N = 309). Many of these animals were released into city forest fragments (N = 146). Some sick animals were sent to veterinary clinics (N = 25) whereas others or confiscated animals were sent to the government’s wildlife processing centre (N = 143). From this data, we were able to make a series of recommendation about how the management of urban marmosets could be improved.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank: the Environmental Police of Belo Horizonte for access to their reports, and for their cooperation in all aspects of this study, especially officers Écio and Martiniano; and IBAMA for sharing their data concerning urban marmosets with us, especially Daniel Vilela. Furthermore, we thank Dr. André Hirsch for making the map in Fig. 1. The research reported in this paper complies with all relevant Federal and State Laws of Brazil. RJY was financially supported by FAPEMIG and CNPq.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Conservation, Ecology and Animal Behaviour Group, Prédio 41, Mestrado em Zoologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Av. Dom José Gaspar, 500—Coração Eucarístico, 30535-610, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Vinícius D. L. R. Goulart, Camila P. Teixeira & Robert John Young

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  1. Vinícius D. L. R. Goulart
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  2. Camila P. Teixeira
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  3. Robert John Young
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Correspondence to Robert John Young.

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Communicated by F.-J. Kaup

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Goulart, V.D.L.R., Teixeira, C.P. & Young, R.J. Analysis of callouts made in relation to wild urban marmosets (Callithrix penicillata) and their implications for urban species management. Eur J Wildl Res 56, 641–649 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-009-0362-4

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