Tragulus napu

Habitat. Primary and secondary evergreen rain forest. It has been suggested that the foot morphology of 7. napu indicates a preference for more swampy habitats than 7. javanicus / 1. kanchil. Another source, from Borneo, however, claims that 7. napu is a hill species, found at no great elevation but never on swamps, plains and less often on river banks than 7. kanchil. T. napu seems to be scarcer in logged forest than in primary forest, with an 86 % decline in density being reported following timber harvest. Daily home range use also appears to be more extensive in secondary forest. The sensitivity to logging is probably a consequence of diet constraints that limit the species’ ability to compensate for the reduced abundance of selected fruits in disturbed forest by utilizing browsing. In twelve-year-old logged forest, fewer trees remained belonging to genera eaten by 7. napu. On Tioman Island, of the coast of the Malay Peninsula, densities increased away from human settlements probably in direct relationship to hunting pressure; also 83 % of observations on this island were in primary forests and 17 % in secondary forests or rubber estates.

Sumber: Tragulidae