| Lesser grison | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Mustelidae |
| Genus: | Galictis |
| Species: | G. cuja |
| Binomial name | |
| Galictis cuja (Molina, 1782) | |
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| Lesser grison range | |
The lesser grison (Galictis cuja) is a species of mustelid from South America. [2]
Lesser grisons have a long, slender body, short legs, and a bushy tail. They have a long neck and a small head with a flattened forehead and rounded ears. They are smaller than the closely related greater grison, with a head-body length of 27 to 52 cm (11 to 20 in) and a tail 14 to 19 cm (5.5 to 7.5 in) long. Adults weigh anything from 1.2 to 2.4 kg (2.6 to 5.3 lb). Females are slighter smaller and more slender than males. [3]
The top of the head, the back and flanks, and the tail have coarse black guard hairs with buff-coloured tips over a softer undercoat, giving them a grizzled greyish colour. The remainder of the body is black or nearly so, apart from a pale buff-coloured stripe running from the forehead to the shoulders along the lower margin of the grey furred area. The feet are webbed, with five toes ending in sharp, curved, claws. [3]
Lesser grisons are found throughout most of southern South America from sea level to as high as 4,200 metres (13,800 ft) elevation. They are found in a wide range of habitats, although generally near water, including grasslands, forests, scrub, and mountain meadows. They are also known to inhabit agricultural land and pasture in some areas. [1] [3]
Four subspecies are recognised:
Lesser grisons are carnivorous, feeding on small to medium rodents, as well as rabbits, birds, frogs, lizards, and snakes. [3] They can also eat fruits, as avocados. [4] They are among the major predators on cavies, including wild guinea pigs, and also of nesting grebes. [5]
They are semi-plantigrade, walking partly on the soles of their feet, and, despite the webbing, their feet are adapted more for running and climbing than for swimming. They possess anal scent glands that spray a noxious chemical similar to, but probably weaker than, that of skunks. They are monogamous, hunting together when raising their litters of two to five young. [3]
Lesser grisons hunt primarily during the day, locating their prey at least partly by scent. They are either solitary, or live in small family groups of parents and offspring, which travel together in single file. They are said to be particularly fierce, and to play with their food for up to 45 minutes before eating it. During the night, they sleep in hollow trees or natural crevices, or else in excavated burrows. Burrows may be as deep as 4 m (13 ft), and have entrances obscured by leaves. [3]
The lesser grison was found to be a host of an intestinal acanthocephalan parasitic worm, Pachysentis gethi . [6]
Lesser grisons can be tamed if raised from a young age. They were used in the past to hunt wild chinchillas, pursuing them down burrows in a similar manner to ferrets, although chinchillas are now too rare for this to be viable. [7] They are still sometimes kept to control rodents on farms, [3] although they may also be hunted, especially where they are thought to prey on domestic poultry. [8] They have also been reported to be amongst the most frequent species among mammalian roadkill in Brazil. [3]
Lesser grisons can act as a reservoir for Chagas disease. [9]
The bodies of lesser grisons have also been used as magical charms in Bolivia, where their pelts are stuffed with wool and decorated with ribbons and paper to be used in ritual offerings to Pachamama. [3] One apparent sacrificial burial from Argentina has been dated to 1,420 BP. It was interred together with human remains, wearing a decorated collar, placed on an animal pelt and associated with numerous other funerary goods and bodies of mice. [3]
Chinchillas are either of two species of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha, and are native to the Andes mountains in South America. They live in colonies called "herds" at high elevations up to 4,270 m (14,000 ft). Historically, chinchillas lived in an area that included parts of Bolivia, Peru and Chile, but today, colonies in the wild are known only in Chile. Along with their relatives, viscachas, they make up the family Chinchillidae. They are also related to the chinchilla rat.
The long-tailed weasel, also known as the bridled weasel, masked ermine, or big stoat, is a species of mustelid distributed from southern Canada through much of the United States and Mexico, southward through all of Central America and into northern South America. It is distinct from the short-tailed weasel, also known as a "stoat", a close relation in the genus Mustela that originated in Eurasia and crossed into North America some half million years ago; the two species are visually similar, especially the black tail tip.
The bush dog is a canine found in Central and South America. In spite of its extensive range, it is very rare in most areas except in Suriname, Guyana and Peru; it was first described by Peter Wilhelm Lund from fossils in Brazilian caves and was believed to be extinct.
Geoffroy's cat is a small wild cat native to the southern and central regions of South America. It is about the size of a domestic cat. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List because it is widespread and abundant over most of its range.
The Pampas fox, also known as grey pampean fox, Pampas zorro, Azara's fox, or Azara's zorro, is a medium-sized zorro, or "false" fox, native to the South American Pampas. Azara in some of its alternative common names is a reference to Spanish naturalist Félix de Azara.
The crab-eating raccoon or South American raccoon is a species of raccoon native to marshy and jungle areas of Central and South America. It is found from Costa Rica south through most areas of South America east of the Andes down to northern Argentina and Uruguay. Despite its name, this species does not feed exclusively on crabs, and the common raccoon also seeks and eats crabs where they are available. In Paraguay, it is known as aguará or agoará popé from Guarani.
A grison is any mustelid in the genus Galictis. Native to Central and South America, the genus contains two extant species: the greater grison, which is found widely in South America, through Central America to southern Mexico; and the lesser grison, which is restricted to the southern half of South America.
The greater grison is a species of mustelid native to Southern Mexico, Central America, and South America.
The Chaco eagle or crowned solitary eagle, is an endangered bird of prey from eastern and central South America. Typically it is known simply as the crowned eagle which leads to potential confusion with the African Stephanoaetus coronatus. Due to its rarity, not much is known about its biology or population.
The Argentine black and white tegu, also known as the Argentine giant tegu, the black and white tegu, or the huge tegu, is a species of lizard in the family Teiidae. The species is the largest of the "tegu lizards". It is an omnivorous species which inhabits the tropical rain forests, savannas and semi-deserts of eastern and central South America.
The short-tailed chinchilla is a small rodent part of the Chinchillidae family and is classified as an endangered species by the IUCN. Originating in South America, the chinchilla is part of the genus Chinchilla, which is separated into two species: the long-tailed chinchilla and the short-tailed chinchilla. Although the short-tailed chinchilla used to be found in Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia, the geographical distribution of the species has since shifted. Today, the species remains extant in the Andes mountains of northern Chile, but small populations have been found in southern Bolivia.
The ashy chinchilla rat is a species of chinchilla rats in the family Abrocomidae found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru.
Oligacanthorhynchida is an order containing a single parasitic worm family, Oligacanthorhynchidae, that attach themselves to the intestinal wall of terrestrial vertebrates.
The tayra is an omnivorous animal from the weasel family, native to the Americas. It is the only species in the genus Eira.
Pachysentis is a genus in Acanthocephala that parasitize primates and carnivorans. They are distributed across Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. Pachysentis species attach themselves to the inner lining of the gastrointestinal tract of their hosts using their hook-covered proboscis. Their life cycle includes an egg stage found in host feces, a cystacanth (larval) stage in an intermediate host such as the Egyptian cobra, and an adult stage where cystacanths mature in the intestines of the host. This genus appears identical to the closely related Oncicola apart from a greater number of hooks on the proboscis. There are eleven species assigned to this genus, although P. septemserialis is of uncertain taxonomic status. The female worms range from 12 millimetres (0.47 in) long and 1.6 millimetres (0.063 in) wide in P. lauroi to 50 millimetres (2.0 in) long and 4 millimetres (0.16 in) wide in P. dollfusi. Virtually all of the length is the trunk, with a short proboscis. There is pronounced sexual dimorphism in this species as females are around twice the size of the males.
Enhydrictis is a genus of extinct mustelid, belonging to the subfamily Galictinae. The type species, and best known, is Enhydrictis galictoides from the Pleistocene of Sardinia and Corsica. Some authors attribute species from mainland Eurasia to the genus, but this is disputed, with others considering the genus endemic to Sardinia-Corsica.
