Registration of the species Crax fasciolata Spix, 1825 (Bare-faced curassow) in a Conservation Unit in the city of Franca - SP, Brazil

Cracids represent one of the most threatened groups of birds in Latin America, in which more than a third of the species are in danger of extinction, especially the bare-faced curassow ( Crax fasciolata ), classified as critically endangered in the State of Sao Paulo. In this context, measures are necessary to guarantee its conservation, such as the evaluation of areas with occurrence of the species, as well as the conservation of the last remnants of semideciduous forest in the State. Thus, this article aims to present the records of specimens of the Crax fasciolata species, obtained through photographic trapping, in the year 2019, in a Municipal Conservation Unit located in the urban area of the municipality of Franca, São Paulo. Four specimens were visualized, three females and one male, in an area of Semideciduous Seasonal Forest. Thus, it is concluded that the protected area is characterized as a favorable environment for the survival of the species, pointing out the extreme importance of the Conservation Unit.


Introduction
The Cracidae (Galliformes) family is composed of curassows, guans, and chachalacas, constituting a considerable group of frugivorous forest birds (Brooks, 2002a), which play a fundamental role in the maintenance of tropical forests, standing out as important seed dispersers and acting in forest regeneration (Brooks & Fuller, 2006). Cracids are known as a Neotropical group, although they are widely distributed, inhabiting from southern Texas to northern Argentina and Uruguay (Sick, 1997;Brooks & Fuller, 2006).

Crax fasciolata (Bare-faced curassow) is distributed across southwestern and central Brazil, Paraguay and northern
Argentina (Clay & Oren, 2006), occurring mainly in semideciduous forests, gallery forests and edges of dense forests (Stotz et al., 1996;Sick, 1997;Wallace et al., 2001;White, 2001). Considered an important biological indicator of the state of conservation of ecosystems, it has terrestrial habits and shows preference for proximity to water bodies (Wallace et al., 2001), requiring large areas of primary or secondary forests in an advanced state of regeneration (Silveira et al., 2008).
Due to the destruction of tropical forests and illegal hunting, cracids represent one of the most threatened groups of birds in Latin America, with more than a third of the species in danger of extinction (Sick, 1997). Furthermore, they are important game birds, used as a food source by peasants and traditional indigenous communities, with a high number of slaughtered individuals (Brooks & Fuller, 2006). The bare-faced curassow reproductive strategy cannot compete with these threats, as its sexual maturity is late, from two to three years of age (Silveira et al., 2008). As a consequence, in recent decades, many cracid species have had their population size reduced, joining the list of endangered species (Laganaro, 2013), in addition, several species have already become locally extinct, even in regions theoretically dedicated to conservation (Peres, 2000).
The species Crax fasciolata was once considered practically extinct (Bressan et al., 2009) and is currently in the "Critically Endangered" category, according to the latest listing of threatened species in the State of São Paulo (Decree 63,853/2018). Thus, measures are necessary to guarantee its conservation, such as the evaluation of protected areas in Brazil where there may be specimens of the species, as well as the preservation of the last remnants of semideciduous forest in the State, in addition to ex-situ conservation, aiming at the reintroduction of this species in nature (Brooks & Strahl, 2000;Bressan et al., 2009).
Given this context, the present work aimed to present records of specimens of the Crax fasciolata species, photographed in the Zoobotanical Garden, Municipal Conservation Unit, located in the municipality of Franca, in the interior of São Paulo.

Methodology
From May to July 2019, in the Zoobotanical Garden, Municipal Conservation Unit of Franca (area of 26 ha), interior of São Paulo State (20°28'37.7"S 47°24'10.9"W) a trap was set photograph (Model HC 700 mg 16MP) on the trunk of a tree, with an approximate height of 30 cm from the ground. The place was provided with baits (cinnamon, bacon, banana, apple, papaya, guava, coarse salt, peanut butter, sardines or tuna) to attract the animals present.
Usually used in studies of medium and large mammals, camera traps provide the identification of species that are often not possible to be sampled by footprints, in addition to being useful in the study of nocturnal, stealthy or low-density animals (Karanth et al., 2003;Tomas & Miranda, 2003). However, camera traps are considered appropriate for studies of large ground-dwelling birds such as cracids and pheasants (O'Brien & Kinnaird, 2008). In this sense, its applications include documenting the occurrence of rare species and registering new species.

Results and Discussion
In the established period, individuals of Crax fasciolata were recorded near one of the springs of the Pouso Alto spring, in an area of seasonal semideciduous forest. Three females and one male were photographed and filmed together on Research, Society andDevelopment, v. 11, n. 6, e39511629262, 2022 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i6.29262  In addition to these records made with the aid of the camera trap, a female and a male were also occasionally viewed and photographed by this same team, on October 14 and 17, 2019, in an area close to the administrative headquarters of the Conservation Unit (Figure 3). Subsequently, employees of the Franca Zoobotanical Garden reported seeing a female and a calf, during the months of November and December of the same year, in areas close to the camera trap records, so the records presented earlier appear to precede the reproductive period, which varies across the wide distribution range of the species (Senič, 2020). In the scientific literature, most observations have shown that these birds tend to live alone or in pairs (Clay & Oren, 2006;Gomes et al., 2018), although there are rare reports of small family groups or only males (Lowen, 1996);White, 2001;Wallace et al., 2001;Desbiez & Bernardo, 2011).
The municipality of Franca is in the transition between the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes (São Paulo, 2017), however, only 16.6% of the territory is composed of native vegetation (Nalon et al., 2020), resulting from the intense expansion agricultural frontier from the 19th century onwards (Lima, 2009), which can directly affect the occurrence of the species, as cracids are particularly susceptible to habitat destruction and other disturbances such as hunting, fires, as well as domestic species (Brook & Fuller, 2006), also recorded during the sampling period.
The aforementioned photographic records are relevant, because in the municipality of Franca there are only two other documents of the species, submitted to the Wikiaves Virtual Encyclopedia, but all without reference points of the exact location of the sighting. The first record is from June 2014, where only one female was seen (Meleti, 2014). The most recent record is dated July 2021, in which a female accompanied by a calf was observed (Veronez, 2021).

Final Considerations
The Franca Zoobotanical Garden, despite being a relatively small protected area, is home to native tree species in an advanced state of regeneration, as well as two springs and an affluent watercourse of Ribeirão Pouso Alto, characterizing itself as a favorable environment for the survival and possible mating area of the bare-faced curassow.
Thus, the records point to the extreme importance of the Conservation Unit and given the conservation status of the bare-faced curassow, we suggest as a focus deeper and sequential studies, covering different methodologies, aiming over time, the verification of parameters such as abundance, as well as behavioral studies of the species.