A. Species
Scientific name: Chelonoidis denticulata
Common name(s): Yellow-footed tortoise
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Vulnerable
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Amazonas
Country/Region: Brazil / middle region of the Amazon River basin.
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: Sub-national / Sub-region / Sub-State
Name/Details of location: 10 communities in the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve. plus urban markets in the municipalities of Alvarães and Tefé
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 2003
End Year: 2013
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Hunting and/or Trapping of live terrestrial and aerial animals
Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed and Ceremony and ritual expression
Motivation of use: Basic subsistence, Income generation from trade (individual/household/community) and Traditional/Cultural/Spiritual
Is this use legal or illegal?: Some use is legal and some is illegal
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable
Details of assessment carried out: The study calculated a catch-per unit-effort (CPUE) index, using the biomass caught per hunter per hour of effort applied during yellow-footed tortoise hunting events (kg/man*hour) as a measure of harvest productivity.
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The study reports a negative trend in tortoise hunting productivity (catch per unit effort) over the years of monitoring, relating to both upland and whitewater flooded forests. They estimate that tortoise hunting in this region may become very difficult and unproductive within six years.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The rapid growth of rural and urban populations and increased accessibility to remote areas of the forest promote overhunting. The sharp decrease in the productivity of hunting activities in the study area will severely affect the food security of the residents and their family income. The decreasing number of remaining wetlands likely sheltered a large number of tortoises requiring thermoregulation, which attracted hunters to these areas and increased hunting productivity. This event indicates that climate changes in the Amazon could vastly impact the sustainability of tortoise use by Amazonian communities. Thus, as the productivities of hunting activities decrease, hunters must exert greater effort and incur higher costs to catch tortoises in the wild, elevating the price at the time of sale.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The rapid growth of rural and urban populations and increased accessibility to remote areas of the forest promote overhunting. The sharp decrease in the productivity of hunting activities in the study area will severely affect the food security of the residents and their family income. The decreasing number of remaining wetlands likely sheltered a large number of tortoises requiring thermoregulation, which attracted hunters to these areas and increased hunting productivity. This event indicates that climate changes in the Amazon could vastly impact the sustainability of tortoise use by Amazonian communities. Thus, as the productivities of hunting activities decrease, hunters must exert greater effort and incur higher costs to catch tortoises in the wild, elevating the price at the time of sale.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Details of assessment carried out: this study does not discuss animal welfare
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: this study does not discuss animal welfare
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
Study recommendations include: Raise tortoises in captivity to enhance their growth and reproductive rates. Introduce a quota system based on biological information on the species, such as density and reproductive rates, to define a viable number of individuals that could be harvested in the wild. Use of zoning areas, based on the source-sink ecological concept. Consider discouraging the consumption and trade of game by proposing surveillance measures in urban markets, imposing fines and prison sentences for wildlife traders and improving meat price controls, reducing the market price of farm-raised meat, and increasing bushmeat prices. Replace sources of protein and income of rural and urban dwellers by raising and consuming domestic animals (although raising livestock for consumption in Brazil and in some other parts of the world is one of the most threatening activities to biodiversity because of the massive conversion of forests into pasture)
Record source
Information about the record source: scientific_pub
Date of publication/issue/production: 2015-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
yellow-footed tortoise in the Amazon. Ecology and Society 20(3): 3. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-07701-20030
Date of record entry: 2022-11-15