The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) is the largest living armadillo. This naturally rare and poorly known species is endemic to South America and classified as “Vulnerable” by the IUCN. Here we explored aspects of the spatial ecology of P. maximus in Midwestern Brazil to gain insights on its ecology and biology to support conservation efforts. In 8 years, we identified 50 individuals of P. maximus and monitored 23 of them using telemetry methods. To characterize site fidelity and home range, we fitted individual continuous-time movement models and estimated Autocorrelated Kernel Density Estimates. We built a Structural Equation Model to evaluate how home-range area and daily displacement are related to each other, to sampling effort, and to individual characteristics. We estimated home-range overlap between pairs of different sexes using a bias-corrected Bhattacharyya coefficient. Finally, we formulated a canonical density estimation formula to characterize minimum population density. We gathered a total of 12,168 locations of P. maximus. The best-fitted movement models indicated site fidelity for all individuals and a median adult home-range area of 2,518 ha. Median adult daily displacement was 1,651 m. Home-range area scales positively with daily displacement and daily displacement scales positively with body mass. Median home-range overlap between pairs was low (4%) and adult females presented exclusive home ranges among themselves. Median minimum density was 7.65 individuals per 100 km2 (CI = 5.68–10.19 ind/100 km2). Our results are congruent with characterizing P. maximus as a generally asocial species, most likely promiscuous/polygynous, that establishes large, long-term home ranges, which grants the population a naturally low density. Spatial patterns and biological characteristics obtained in this study can be used to guide future conservation strategies for P. maximus in the Pantanal wetlands and elsewhere.

中文翻译：

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巴西中西部巨型犰狳的空间生态学

巨型犰狳（Priodontes maximus）是现存最大的犰狳。这种自然稀有且鲜为人知的物种是南美洲的特有物种，被世界自然保护联盟列为“易危物种”。在这里，我们探索了巴西中西部 P. maximus 空间生态学的各个方面，以深入了解其生态和生物学，以支持保护工作。在 8 年中，我们确定了 50 名 P. maximus 并使用遥测方法监测了其中的 23 名。为了表征站点保真度和家庭范围，我们拟合了个体连续时间运动模型并估计了自相关核密度估计。我们建立了一个结构方程模型来评估家庭范围和每日位移之间的相互关系、采样工作量和个体特征。我们使用偏差校正的 Bhattacharyya 系数估计不同性别对之间的家庭范围重叠。最后，我们制定了一个典型的密度估计公式来表征最小人口密度。我们总共收集了 12,168 个 P. maximus 的位置。最适合的运动模型表明所有个体的场地保真度和成人家庭范围的中位数为 2,518 公顷。成人每日位移的中位数为 1,651 m。栖息地面积与日位移成正比，而日位移与体重成正比。成对之间的家庭范围重叠的中位数较低（4％），成年女性之间呈现出专属的家庭范围。中位数最小密度为每 100 平方公里 7.65 只个体（CI = 5.68–10.19 ind/100 平方公里）。我们的结果与将 P. maximus 描述为一般的非社会物种一致，最有可能是滥交/一夫多妻，建立大的、长期的家庭范围，这使人口自然密度低。本研究中获得的空间模式和生物学特征可用于指导潘塔纳尔湿地和其他地方的 P. maximus 未来的保护策略。