Huemul heresies: beliefs in search of supporting data. 1. Historical and zooarcheological considerations

Abstract

Patagonian huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus) was eliminated from many former ranges before arrival of early explorers who already acknowledged its rareness. Considering huemul analogous to ungulates in mountains back home, huemul was called mountain deer, which is repeatedly cited without validation and remains the orthodox interpretation. Yet other species considered analogous also use lowlands, flatlands, deserts and grasslands, and the only congeneric, H. antisensis, uses habitat with high affinity to Patagonian grasslands. Recent comparative analyses of the post-cranial morphology show that huemul cannot be associated with rock-climbing species, but falls within ranges of other cervids. Interpretations of past human utilisation rely on one study of economic anatomy and bone remains, frequently concluding that huemul was unimportant to hunter-gatherers. However, considering only bone fat and omitting easily removable fat is erroneous. Total energy of deer in autumn-winter partitions into 53% as fat and hunter-gatherers elsewhere focussed on deer during the peak fat cycle, using all easily removable fat (>1200% more energy than in bones) and consuming fat and marrow while butchering. Natives are likely to have influenced huemul distribution and density in winter ranges due to high incentives (fat) and easiness to kill. Sparse evidence is likely the result of surveys in Patagonia having been biased towards caves, leaving out transient movements and camps. Generalist cervids passed the Panama land-bridge filter to reach South America. Considering paleoclimate, Hippocamelus dispersed east of the Andes, pushed by glaciations even to north-eastern Brazil. Hippocamelus would reach and cross Andes only after deglaciations. As a mixed feeder, huemul utilised Patagonian steppe. Hunter-gatherers arrived after the last glaciation and influenced the local distribution of Hippocamelus, especially in northern and central Chile, after early adoption of an agricultural lifestyle. Introduction of horses converted native economies through adoption of an equestrian lifestyle and arrival of millions of introduced livestock, which thus affected early writings. Only few records indicate the presence of large groups of huemul far from forests, and substantial killings. Human-caused range contractions of northern ungulates affected mainly losses at low elevations and most species persisted in the marginal periphery, including high-elevation refuges. Paleoecology, zoogeography and land-use history in southern South America indicate that mountain huemul is a secondary relict created by impacts of post-Columbian colonisation. We caution against the rigid application of modern huemul habitats in interpreting past habitat use and huemul ecology, and simply considering the few extra-Andean accounts as abnormal outliers.

Patagonian huemul deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus) under captive conditions: an historical overview

“…49,50 Furthermore, juveniles and subordinate members do not engage in fights with mature individuals. 51 The present event with huemul occurred during the post-rut antlerless period: it thus appears unlikely related to territorialism, which has not been described in any other cervid for this season. Even when territoriality does occur during the intensive rut in some cervids, it rarely results in casualties, particularly of juveniles.…”

“…Even when territoriality does occur during the intensive rut in some cervids, it rarely results in casualties, particularly of juveniles. 51 Moreover, although recently claimed, 42 no indications of huemul being territorial with active defence were found in a 10-year study, 14 and the sister species taruca also is not territorial but exhibits a dominance system. 51 In comparison, after velvet shedding, mature roe bucks (Capreolus capreolus) may defend exclusive territories for breeding, and afterwards revert back to a dominance hierarchy in mixed groups.…”

Modeling of potential habitat suitability of Hippocamelus bisulcus: effectiveness of a protected areas network in Southern Patagonia

“…This methodology is suitable for areas with low data availability such as Southern Patagonia, where databases for rare or endangered species very often consist in a set of observed occurrences (presence-only data) being useful for studies that analyze the ecological niche based only in the data of their presence (Guisan and Zimmermann 2000;Soberón and Peterson 2005).The developed HSM allowed us to determine areas with different habitat quality closely related to mountain environments and ecotone areas. The applied modeling identifies habitat areas in different ecosystem types, including alpine grasslands, the three existing forest types, and the ecotone areas with the steppe (grasslands and shrublands), in coincidence with the hypothesis of their historical distribution (Díaz 1993;Flueck and Smith-Flueck 2012;Fernández et al 2015). The developed HSM showed a greater potential area distribution than those derived from the field data observations.…”

Applications of Stable Isotope Analysis in Zooarchaeology: An Introduction

“…This cervid is considered an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN); since the colonization of the region by western populations, its distribution has contracted dramatically. Steppe habitats have been abandoned and modern ranges restricted to forest environments only (Díaz, ; Flueck & Smith‐Flueck, ). The results of the current work show, in the first place, that there is no relationship between the isotopic values of modern huemuls and precipitation in the samples they recovered.…”