Review of Historical and Zooarchaeological Data to Trace Past Biogeographic Distribution of Endangered Huemul <i>(Hippocamelus bisulcus</i>) to Enhance Conservation Strategies
Werner T. Flueck,
Jo Anne M. Smith-Flueck,
Miguel E. Escobar,
Melina E. Zuliani,
Beat Fuchs,
James R. Heffelfinger,
Patricia Black-Decima,
Zygmunt Gizejewski,
Fernando Vidal,
Javier Barrio,
Silvina M. Molinuevo,
Adrian J. Monjeau,
Stefan Hoby,
Jaime E. Jiménez
Affiliations
Werner T. Flueck
National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires 1425, Argentina
Jo Anne M. Smith-Flueck
Laboratorio de Teriogenología ‘Dr. Héctor H. Morello’, IBAC-CITAAC, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Cinco Saltos 8303, Argentina
Miguel E. Escobar
Fundación Shoonem, Parque Protegido Shoonem, Alto Río Senguer 9033, Argentina
Melina E. Zuliani
National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires 1425, Argentina
Beat Fuchs
DeerLab, Bariloche 8400, Argentina
James R. Heffelfinger
Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ 85086, USA
Patricia Black-Decima
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Miguel de Tucuman 4000, Argentina
Zygmunt Gizejewski
Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pl-10-747 Olsztyn, Poland
Fernando Vidal
Departamento de Ciencias Basicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Univerdidad Santo Tomas, Villarrica 4780000, Chile
Javier Barrio
Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad, Lima 33, Peru
Silvina M. Molinuevo
Laboratorio de Investigacion en Osteopatias y Metabolismo Mineral, Departamento de Ciencias Biologicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata 1900, Argentina
Adrian J. Monjeau
National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires 1425, Argentina
Stefan Hoby
Berne Animal Park, 3006 Bern, Switzerland
Jaime E. Jiménez
Department of Biological Sciences, Advanced Environmental Research Institute, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USA
Conservation strategies for huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus), listed as an endangered cervid by IUCN, have not helped to reverse its declining population trends. Recent evaluations of historical data revealed that they also inhabited lower valleys and grasslands as residents or only during winter. However, the dogma persists that huemuls do not need such habitats. To determine if more solid evidence exists to back up or refute our hypothesis that huemuls once inhabited lower valleys and grasslands, we researched the literature and discovered additional relevant historical sources on this species. These new findings substantiate that huemuls also occupied unforested areas, reaching the Atlantic coast, and resided on various islands including Tierra del Fuego, and that their co-occurrence with guanaco was frequent. Their extreme naivety towards humans resulted in their extirpation on winter ranges settled by humans, resulting in refugee huemuls year-round on remote mountain summer ranges. The ease by which indigenous people could kill them for subsistence and commercial export of hides to Europe, followed by the lowlands becoming modified by settlers and their exotic species facilitated the huemuls’ extirpation. The hypothesis of a dramatic modification of the original biogeographical distribution of huemuls is supported by anatomical and ecological features along with historical accounts. Sedentariness on only rugged summer ranges makes long-term survival of this species crucially challenging and requires sound conservation strategies that incorporate geographical areas of their former distribution.