Amazonian brown brocket

The Amazonian brown brocket (Mazama nemorivaga), also known as the small brown brocket, is a small species of deer that is almost entirely restricted to South America. It is known from Panama (in Isla San José of the Pearl Islands only; endemic subspecies M. n. permira), Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, Brazil and possibly northern Bolivia. Habitats it is found in include primarily nonflooded Amazonian tropical rainforest, and locally also tropical deciduous forest and xeric shrublands, at altitudes up to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). However, reports from the latter habitats may actually represent M. gouazoubira.

Breeding occurs year round in some areas, with births tending to be concentrated in the rainy season. It is threatened by deforestation and by diseases spread by cattle, but not particularly by hunting.

It is sympatric with the larger M. americana over much of its range (the latter tends to have significantly higher population densities), and reportedly also with M. gouazoubira in a few areas. It was considered a subspecies of M. gouazoubira, with which it is parapatric, until 2000. Under normal viewing conditions it is not easily distinguished from M. gouazoubira, but unlike M. americana it is gray-brown overall with paler underparts.

Gray brocket

The gray brocket (Mazama gouazoubira), also known as the brown brocket, is a species of brocket deer from northern Argentina, Bolivia, southern Peru, eastern and southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It formerly included the Amazonian Brown Brocket (M. nemorivaga) and sometimes also the Yucatan Brown Brocket (M. pandora) as subspecies. Unlike other species of brocket deer in its range, the gray brocket has a gray-brown fur without reddish tones.

Name

The scientific name of the gray brocket deer comes from Félix de Azara's "Gouazoubira". Azara was the first to provide a quality description of the small deer in the Americas, and he referred to the red brocket as Gouazoupita, while he referred to the gray brocket as Gouazoubira. Gouazoubira has been maintained in the current species name, Mazama gouazoubira. Though sometimes it is seen as Mazama gouazoupira, this is incorrect, perhaps mistakenly replacing a "b" with a "p" from Azara's name for the red brocket, Gouazoupita.

Physical description