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Diurnal time budgets and activity rhythm of captive Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis)in spring and summer

MA Feiyan,YU Xiaojun,CHEN Min,LIU Chaofei,ZHANG Zhiming,YE Jianhua   

  • Online:2013-02-27 Published:2013-02-20

圈养獐春夏季昼间行为时间分配及活动节律

马飞雁 余晓俊 陈珉 刘超飞 张志明 叶建华   

  1. 华东师范大学生命科学学院

Abstract: Diurnal (06:00 -19:00)time budgets and activity rhythms for 24 captive Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis)(12♀,12♂)were observed from March to July,2008 in the Huaxia Park of Pudong,Shanghai using instantaneous scan sampling and all-occurrence recording methods. The behaviors recorded included resting,ruminating,standing,alertness, feeding,moving,auto-grooming,urinating and social behaviors. In both spring and summer,resting was the principal activity of the Chinese water deer,followed by feeding and moving. The diurnal behaviors of the Chinese water deer had a clear rhythm,the active periods were concentrated near dawn (06:00 - 08:00)and dusk (16:00 - 18:00).
The deer spent significantly more time resting but significantly less time standing,urinating,auto-grooming and moving in summer than they did in the spring (One-way ANOVA )analysis and Mann-Whitney U Test ). Compared to males females spent significantly more time standing and ruminating,but significantly less time resting,auto-grooming and displaying alertness. As to the females,there were more significant difference in standing,urinating,auto-grooming,moving and social behaviors and significantly difference in feeding between spring and summer. In spring,the females spent more time standing,urinating,auto-grooming and moving than in summer. Females spent more time feeding and on social behaviors because they have high energy pregnancy and post-partum requirements in summer. To the males,resting,feeding,autogrooming, alerting and social behaviors showed more significantly differences than standing,ruminating,urinating and moving between spring and summer. In spring,they spent more time on feeding,auto-grooming,alerting,standing,ruminating, urinating,moving and social behaviors,except resting. The results indicated that the Hydropotes inermis in the Huaxia Park had time budgets and activity rhythms similar to those of the wild population and the welfare of the deer was well satisfied. We believe that the results will be useful to new management practices and could be the theoretical basis for release to the wild in Shanghai.

Key words: Activity rhythm, Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis), Diurnal behaviors, Time budget

摘要: 2008 年3 ~7 月,在上海市浦东新区华夏公园进行獐重引入试点,采用瞬时扫描取样法和全事件记录法,对圈养条件下24 只獐(12 雌,12 雄)春夏季昼间行为时间分配及活动节律进行了观察。结果表明:休息是春夏季最主要的行为方式,其次是摄食和运动。獐的昼间行为具有明显的节律性,以晨昏活动为主,主要活动时间集中在06:00 ~08:00 和16:00 ~18:00。单因素方差分析(One-way ANOVA analysis)和Mann-Whitney U 检验表明,在时间分配上,春、夏季休息、站立、排遗、梳理和运动行为差异极显著;雌雄间休息、站立、反刍、梳理和警戒行为差异极显著。雌性春、夏季站立、排遗、梳理、运动和社会行为差异极显著,摄食差异显著;雄性春、夏季休息、摄食、梳理、警戒和社会行为差异极显著,站立、反刍、排遗和运动行为差异显著。本研究结果表明重引入獐的行为时间分配和活动节律与野生种群相似,动物福利得到较好满足,对下一步在上海地区的种群复壮和迁地野放等具有重要意义。

关键词: 獐, 昼间行为, 时间分配, 活动节律