Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco NP (Bolivia): mammal records, 2023

Paul Carter. Contact: paulcarter@pacapix.com
Posted 2024 Nov 21

Summary
On a 6-day trip (2023 May 26-31) with Stuart Chapman to Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco NP (eastern Bolivia) we saw 19 mammal species. Highlights were Jaguar, Puma, Tayra, Chacoan Peccary, Foster’s Punare and Chacoan Gracile Opossum. This trip was led by Nick McPhee of Nick’s Adventures.

CONTENTS
A)  Mammal records
B)  Mammal images
C)  Reptile records
D)  Bird records of interest
E)  Site information and logistics
F)  References

Abbreviations and style
Ph – Photographed (by PC). NP – Not photographed (by PC).
24-hour time is written as “hhmm” e.g. “3:49 PM” is written as “1549” or “1549h”.

A. MAMMAL RECORDS
Images are posted in Section B.

1. Chacoan Gracile Opossum (Cryptonanus chacoensis). PH. Three seen, including one in the store shed (May 28 2011h; iNat post) and another in shrubs near the main camp (May 28 2026h – iNat post). Images below.
2. Southern Three-banded Armadillo (Tolypeutes matacus). PH. Camp. Images below
3. Jaguar (Panthera onca). PH. Two males on May 28 (1501h and 1604h). Images below.
4. Puma (Puma concolor). PH. One on May 28 (1636h). Image below.
5. Jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi). NP. One seen on May 28.
6. Tayra (Eira barbara). PH. May 29 and May 30. Image below.
7. Crab-eating Fox (Cerdocyon thous). PH. Common.
8. Lowland Tapir (Tapirus terrestris). NP.
9. Chacoan Peccary (Parachoerus wagneri). PH. One group of four (May 30 0903h). Taxonomy: MDD-1/11 updated from “Catagonus wagneri” to “Parachoerus wagneri”. Image below.
10. Common Red Brocket (Mazama americana). NP. Near camp.
11. Common Brown Brocket (Mazama gouazoubira). PH.
12. Common Tapeti (Sylvilagus brasiliensis). PH. A few seen at the camp area and pipeline road.
13. Brown Agouti (Dasyprocta variegata). PH. “Dasyprocta azarae” in Kaa-Iya NP is now treated as D. variegata. May 30 0810h.
14. Foster’s Punare (Thrichomys fosteri). PH. On iNat (2024 Sep) this form is treated as Paraguayan Punaré (Thrichomys pachyurus) but following Nascimento et al (2013) this would be “Thrichomys fosteri”. Locally common. iNat posts include May 27 2200h post and May 28 2041h post. Images below. Common in the camp area.
15. Chaco Leaf-eared Mouse (Graomys chacoensis). PH. Seen in the camp area (May 30 2208h). iNat post.
16. Small Vesper Mouse (Calomys laucha)? PH. May 29 2025h. Seen near the main camp. 6 images at iNat post; one image below. TENTATIVE ID.
17. Pale Titi Monkey (Plecturocebus pallescens). PH. Image below.
18. Azara’s Night Monkey (Aotus azarae). PH. Camp area.
19. Black-tailed Marmoset (Mico melanurus). NP.

B.  MAMMAL IMAGES

#1 – Chacoan Gracile Opossum (Cryptonanus chacoensis)

#2 – Southern Three-banded Armadillo

#3 – Jaguar (Panthera onca)

#4 – Puma (Puma concolor)

#6 – Tayra (Eira barbara)

#7 – Crab-eating Fox

#9 – Chacoan Peccary (Parachoerus wagneri)

#14 – Foster’s Punare (Thrichomys fosteri)

#15 – Chaco Leaf-eared Mouse

#16 – Small Vesper Mouse – TENTATIVE ID

#17 – Pale Titi Monkey

C. REPTILE RECORDS
Reptiles seen included the following.

1. Neotropical Rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus). PH. Seen on the access road to the park. iNat post. Image below
2. Chaco Robust Gecko (Phyllopezus przewalskii). PH. Camp. May 30 1126h. iNat post.

D. BIRD RECORDS OF INTEREST
Nacunda Nighthawk (Chordeiles nacunda): a group of 9 seen at the camp late morning May 28 10:45 AM; iNat post.

E.  SITE INFORMATION AND LOGISTICS
Dates Visited: 26-31 May 2023 (5 nights).
Companions: I travelled with Stuart Chapman; his Bolivia report on all sites is posted here. Our tour was led by Nick McPhee with driver (Jose) and cook (Yetsi). We saw no other tourists in the six days we were there.
Site Information: “Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area (Parque Nacional y Area Natural de Manejo Integrado Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco) is the biggest national park in Bolivia and one of the largest in South America. It is a protected area in the region of the Gran Chaco and has a larger surface area than Belgium” (Wikipedia page). Kaa-Iya NP is about 250 km southeast of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. We drove there via San José de Chiquitos. The park accommodation building “main camp” (-18.516785° -60.809998°) is about 75 km south of San Jose and just outside the eastern boundary of the park. It is next to the pipeline company’s office buildings (“PL Office”) marked on Google Maps as “El Palmar de las Islas”. This is not a park that you can drive up to and enter at will; access is strictly controlled and there are various locked gates along the entry road from San Jose south to PL Office and the gate at PL Office. The gate at PL office that gives access to the pipeline road is manned 24/7 and permission ahead of time is required to enter the whole area. Nick’s Adventures can arrange trips to this park – see their website for details.
Our mammal-watching activities over the six days was primarily walking or driving along the west-east trending pipeline road, as well as some night walks around the camp. We drove the section of road as far as 70 km west of the camp and 13 km east of main camp where there is a private airstrip next to Estacion Chiquitos. Due to recent rain and road conditions we could not visit a second camp near Estacion Izozog (about 103 km west of main camp).

F.  REFERENCES

• Biofaces (viewed 2024 Nov). Necromys lasiurus. https://www.biofaces.com/specie/4135/necromys-lasiurus/.
• Emmons L (1997). Neotropical rainforest mammals: a field guide (Second edition). Text by LH Emmons, Illustrations by F Feer. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ISBN 0-226-20721-8 (paperback).
• Lynx Edicions (2020 Feb / 2020c). Lynx Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
• MDD-1/10:  Mammal Diversity Database (2022 Dec 3). Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.10) [Data set]. Zenodo. Published 3 Dec 2022.
• MDD-1/11: Mammal Diversity Database (2023 April). Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.11) [Data set]. Zenodo. Published April 2023.
• MDD-1/12: Mammal Diversity Database (2024 Jan 5). Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.12) [Data set]. Zenodo. Published 2024 Jan 5.
• Patton JL, Pardinas UFJ, D’Elia G (eds.) (2015). Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. University of Chicago Press.
• Teta P, Reyes-Amaya N (2021 Oct 15). Uncovering species boundaries through qualitative and quantitative morphology in the genus Dasyprocta (Rodentia, Caviomorpha), with emphasis in D. punctata and D. variegata. Journal of Mammalogy 102(6):1548–1563.
• Wikipedia (2023). Web page “Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area“. Address. https.//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaa-Iya_del_Gran_Chaco_National_Park_and_Integrated_Management_Natural_Area