Abstract: Daily activity rhythms of three radio-collared captive red pandas were monitored individually at 15 minute intervals for 3 continuous days each month at Yele Nature Reserve, Xiangling Mountains, June-October 1995. Our data indicated that mean rate of activity (0.51) of captive red pandas was lower than that of wild red pandas. Three captive red pandas showed similar daily activity patterns, being least active during night and more active during daytime. Mean rate of activity during daylight (0.58) was higher than during nighttime (0.41). Daily mean durations of activity and rest were 12.21 hours and 11.79 hours, respectively. Active times of captive red pandas accounted for 50.6% of each 24 hours, of which 66.5% were recorded during daylight and 33.5% during night. Two active peaks appeared at 07:30-09:15 and 17:30-19:00. We recorded a mean of 2.17, 2.13 and 0.88 long, mid-length, and short resting bouts daily, which had mean durations of 3.47, 1.65 and 0.87 hour, respectively Among these long rests, 46.1% occurred during daytime and 53.8% during nighttime.

Key words: Captive red panda, Radio-monitoring, Daily activity rhythm

关键词: 圈养小熊猫, 无线电遥测, 昼夜活动节律