Material and methods
Study site
The maned sloths were monitored in a cabruca located at the
Cabana da Serra Farm (15◦11
20S; 39◦2
33W) in the municipality
of Una, in the lowlands of southern Bahia, Brazil. The study site is
located near the Una Biological Reserve and the Private Reserve
Ecoparque de Una, and is crossed by the Maruim River (Fig. 1).
Approximately 67% of the land encompassed by Una Biological
Reserve and its buffer zone (extending 10 km beyond the Reserve’s
borders) is covered by primary and secondary forests (Instituto
de Estudos Socioambientais do Sul da Bahia, unpublished data).
Shaded cacao plantations and rubber tree plantations account for
60% of the cultivated land and represent the main crops in the Una
Biological Reserve buffer zone (Araújo et al. 1998)