The degree of threat and the ecological importance of both medium and large-sized terrestrial mammals point out the necessity of searching for information on inventories and environmental diagnostics. This work aimed to inventory and evaluate the species frequency of occurrence and richness of both medium and large-sized mammals from the Estação de Pesquisa, Treinamento e Educação Ambiental (EPTEA) Mata do Paraíso, Viçosa - MG. The area analyzed was randomly walked in order to find direct or indirect evidences of mammals. It was also used both Tomahawk and photographic traps to register and identify the species. In order to register frequency of occurrence, it was established 20 plots having 2 by 2m each one along one transect which were inspected 29 times from April 2005 to April 2006. Based on data of frequency of occurrence, it was estimated the species richness by using Jackknife 1 procedure and the EstimateS program. It was registered 23 species of mammals, from which three are endangered: Chrysocyon brachyurus (Illiger, 1815), Leopardus pardalis (Linnaeus, 1758) and Leopardus tigrinus (Schreber, 1775). The wild species most frequently registered were Cerdocyon thous (Linnaeus, 1766), L. tigrinus e L. pardalis. The degree of richness estimated to the EPTEA on Mata do Paraíso was 15 species of terrestrial wild animals (confidence interval = 0.95). This work shows that in spite of the studied area is small it has an important role in the conversation of the mastofauna of Viçosa's neighborhood.
mammals; species richness; tracks; Atlantic Forest
