Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Red brock­ets are na­tive to the neotrop­i­cal re­gion rang­ing from south­ern Mex­ico to north­ern Ar­gentina and from sea level up to 5000 m in el­e­va­tion. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Abril, 2010; Hur­tado and Jorge, 2006)

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

Red brock­ets live in dense trop­i­cal forests with closed canopies and pre­fer ei­ther moist or re­ally dry cli­mates. They tend to stay near marshes, swamps, and streams along thick veg­e­ta­tive cover. Their small body size helps them to move eas­ily through water and dense veg­e­ta­tion and re­main un­no­ticed by preda­tors. When night falls, red brock­ets for­age on for­est edges, in agri­cul­tural fields, and in gar­dens. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Gon­za­lez, et al., 2009; Hur­tado and Jorge, 2006)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest
• rainforest
• scrub forest

• Aquatic Biomes
• rivers and streams

• Wetlands
• marsh
• swamp

• Other Habitat Features
• agricultural

• Range elevation

  0 to 5000 m

  0.00 to 16404.20 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Red brock­ets are the largest mem­bers of the genus of brocket deer. The head and neck ex­hibit a light gray­ish-brown color. The inner thighs, throat, tail, and inner part of the ears are white. The rest of their bod­ies are red­dish brown to chest­nut red in color and young brock­ets are born with white spots. Males tend to be larger and have spikes to pro­tect against preda­tors. Their shoul­der height mea­sures 65 to 80 cm, tail length mea­sures 8 to 15 cm, and the head to body length mea­sures 103 to 146 cm. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Abril, 2010; Gon­za­lez, et al., 2009)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• ornamentation

• Range mass

  20 to 55 kg

  44.05 to 121.15 lb

• Range length

  103 to 146 cm

  40.55 to 57.48 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Lit­tle in­for­ma­tion is known about the mat­ings sys­tems of red brock­ets.

In the north­east­ern Pe­ru­vian Ama­zon, red brocket deer con­ceive dur­ing all months of the year ex­cept from Sep­tem­ber and Oc­to­ber. In Suri­nam, they re­pro­duce from Sep­tem­ber to April. De­pend­ing on where the red brocket deer are lo­cated, they may have peaks in con­cep­tion dur­ing the dry sea­sons. Fe­males be­tween the ages of 0 and 4 years are more ca­pa­ble of birthing two off­spring, whereas fe­males be­tween the ages of 4 and 6 years usu­ally only pro­duce one. Fe­males reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity around 11 months of age and males reach ma­tu­rity around 12 months of age. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Branan, 1987; Gon­za­lez, et al., 2009; Hur­tado and Jorge, 2006)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual

• Breeding interval

  There is little information regarding the frequency of red brocket breeding.

• Breeding season

  Red brockets breed throughout the year depending on rainfall.

• Average number of offspring

  1.2

• Average number of offspring

  1.3

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  222 to 228 days

• Average weaning age

  6 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  11 to 13 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  12 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  365 days

  AnAge

Lit­tle in­for­ma­tion is known about the parental in­vest­ment of red brock­ets.

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Red brock­ets live be­tween 7 and 12 years of age, but due to the elu­sive­ness of this species, it is dif­fi­cult to ob­tain suf­fi­cient data. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Abril, 2010; Branan, 1987; Gon­za­lez, et al., 2009; Hur­tado and Jorge, 2007)

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  12 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  16 years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  7 to 12 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  13.8 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Red brock­ets are ex­tremely hard to re­search be­cause of the habi­tat in which they live and their preda­tor avoid­ance tech­niques. If they are spot­ted by a preda­tor or can hear some­thing ap­proach­ing, they some­times freeze in place. When in more im­me­di­ate dan­ger, red brock­ets leap through the veg­e­ta­tive for­est or swim across to the other side of a river. Red brock­ets are both di­ur­nal and noc­tur­nal and are often seen alone. Once the fe­male gives birth, it will hide the young and leave it for an un­known pe­riod of time be­fore com­ing back and nurs­ing it until it has reached sex­ual ma­tu­rity. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Abril, 2010; Branan, 1987; Gon­za­lez, et al., 2009; Hur­tado and Jorge, 2006)

• Key Behaviors
• diurnal
• nocturnal
• motile
• solitary

Home Range

Lit­tle is known about the home range of red brocket deer. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Abril, 2010; Gayot, 2004; Gon­za­lez, et al., 2009; Hur­tado and Jorge, 2006; Li­cona, 2011)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Lit­tle in­for­ma­tion is known about the com­mu­ni­ca­tion and per­cep­tion of red brock­ets.

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Red brocket diets con­sist mainly of fruit and some leaves and fi­brous ma­te­r­ial. Dur­ing the wet sea­son when food avail­abil­ity is low, ttheir diet may con­sist mainly of fungi. In ex­treme cases where fruit and fungi be­come scarce, it may eat stems, bark, peti­oles, leaves, and an­i­mal mat­ter in­stead. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Bod­mer, 1990; Gayot, 2004)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • frugivore
  • granivore
  • lignivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• roots and tubers
• wood, bark, or stems
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit
• flowers

• Other Foods
• fungus

Pre­da­tion

Red brock­ets stand low to the ground, have a red­dish-brown fur color to cam­ou­flage with the trop­i­cal veg­e­ta­tion in the back­ground, and are well adapted for mov­ing through thick veg­e­ta­tive mat­ter. Anti-preda­tory adap­ta­tions be­hav­iors em­ployed by red brock­ets in­clude freez­ing, swim­ming, and cam­ou­flage. If a preda­tor de­cides to chase a red brocket, it will al­ter­nate be­tween leap­ing and freez­ing be­hav­iors in order to con­fuse the preda­tor. If red brock­ets are near a river, they will use their ex­cep­tional swim­ming skills to es­cape. Known preda­tors of red brock­ets are pumas, jaguars, and hu­mans. Pumas and jaguars are stealthy hunters that often wait from a dis­tance for the most op­por­tunis­tic time pounce. Hu­mans have hunted red brock­ets for meat and trade. (Harm­sen, et al., 2011)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • pumas (Puma concolor)
  • jaguars (Panthera onca)
  • humans (Homo sapiens)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Red brock­ets play an es­sen­tial role within the Ama­zon­ian ecosys­tem. They alter plant com­mu­ni­ties and the over­all struc­ture of the for­est by graz­ing and dis­pers­ing seeds. With­out red brock­ets, cer­tain plant seeds would not be dis­persed and might be­come en­dan­gered or face ex­tinc­tion. Red brock­ets are also the main source of food for jaguars and pumas. (Li­cona, 2011)

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds
• creates habitat

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Red brock­ets pro­vide valu­able meat and a means of trade for hu­mans. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Hur­tado and Jorge, 2007; Li­cona, 2011)

• Positive Impacts
• food
• body parts are source of valuable material
• research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Red brock­ets oc­ca­sion­ally cause dam­age to agri­cul­tural fields. ("Arkive im­ages of life on earth", 2011; Gayot, 2004; Li­cona, 2011)

• Negative Impacts
• crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Lit­tle is known of the con­ser­va­tion sta­tus of red brocket deer.

• IUCN Red List

  Data Deficient
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Data Deficient
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Kyle Kos­sel (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Christo­pher Yahnke (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Ale­cia Stew­art-Mal­one (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Laura Podzikowski (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects.

Ref­er­ences

2011. "Arkive im­ages of life on earth" (On-line). Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 25, 2011 at http://​www.​arkive.​org/​red-brocket/​mazama-americana/#​text=Habitat.

Abril, V. 2010. Elu­ci­dat­ing the Evo­lu­tion of the Red Brocket Deer Mazama amer­i­cana Com­plex (Ar­tio­dactyla; Cervi­dae). Cy­to­ge­netic and Genome Re­search, 128: 177-187.

Bod­mer, R. 1990. Re­sponses of un­gu­lates to sea­sonal in­un­da­tions in the Ama­zon flood­plain. Jour­nal of Trop­i­cal Ecol­ogy, 6: 191-201.

Branan, W. 1987. Re­pro­duc­tive ecol­ogy of white-tailed and red brocket deer in Suri­name. RES. SYMP. NATL. ZOOL. PARK, 6: 344-351.

Gayot, M. 2004. Com­par­a­tive diet of the two for­est cervids of the genus Mazama in French Guiana. Jour­nal of Trop­i­cal Ecol­ogy, 20: 31-43.

Gon­za­lez, S., J. Mal­don­ado, J. Or­tega, C. Ta­larico, L. Bide­garay. 2009. Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of the en­dan­gered small red brocket deer ( Mazama bororo) using non­in­va­sive ge­netic tech­niques (Mam­malia; Cervi­dae). Mol­e­c­u­lar Ecol­ogy Re­sources, 9: 754-758.

Harm­sen, B., R. Fos­ter, S. Sil­ver, L. Ostro, C. Don­caster. 2011. Jaguar and puma ac­tiv­ity pat­terns in re­la­tion to their main prey. Mam­malian Bi­ol­ogy, 76: 320-324.

Hur­tado, G., L. Jorge. 2007. As­sess­ing the sus­tain­abil­ity of brocket deer hunt­ing in the Tamshiy­acu-Tahuayo Com­mu­nal Re­serve, north­east­ern Peru. Con­ser­va­tion- Bi­o­log­i­cal Con­ser­va­tion, 138: 412-420.

Hur­tado, G., L. Jorge. 2006. Re­pro­duc­tive bi­ol­ogy of fe­male Ama­zon­ian brocket. Eu­ro­pean Jour­nal of Wildlife Re­search, 3: 171-177.

Li­cona, M. 2011. Using un­gu­late oc­cur­rence to eval­u­ate com­mu­nity-based con­ser­va­tion within a bios­phere re­serve model. An­i­mal Con­ser­va­tion APR 2011 pages: 206-214 vol­ume: 14 issue: 2, 14: 206-214.