Diet of the Mountain Vizcacha (Lagidium-Viscacia Molina, 1782)and Food Availability in Northern Patagonia, Argentina

PUIG, S; VIDELA, F; CONA, M; MONGE, S; ROIG, V; SILVIA PUIG

MAMMALIAN BIOLOGY

ELSEVIER GMBH

Año: 1998 vol. 63 p. 228 - 238

1616-5047

Diet of Lagidium viscacia and food availability were seasonally determined in La Payunia Protected Area through faecal analysis and point quadrat transects, respectively, in rocky elevations (shelter of mountain vizcachas) and adjacent plains. There were several evidences of selective feeding behaviour, besides the little similarity between diet and availability. The diet included only 33% of the plant genera occurring in the environment, the main dietary elements being three grasses (Poa, Hordeum. and Stipa) and one camephyte (Acantholippia). The proportion of grasses was significantly higher in the diet than in the environment, especially in the shrubby rocky elevations. The main food, Poa. was scarce to absent in rocky elevations, where L. viscacia lives, representing evidence of L. viscacia's descending to plains for feeding. Similar behaviour was detected in L. peruanum and Procavia johnstoni, the rocky hyrax. The plains adjacent to rocky elevations in La Payunia were inhabited by the plains vizcacha, Lagostomus maximus, a closely related species to L. viscacia. Considerable similarity between both Chinchillidae diets suggests the possibility of competition, Poa being the key dietary element. Feeding behavio