The Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) is a national protected animal (Category II). From May 2016 to May 2017, we investigated the behaviors of sambar deer in the salt site and other habitats in the Anzi River Nature Reserve of Sichuan Province to study the species’ population structure, daily activity rhythm, and salt-licking behavior rhythm through infrared camera trapping. The infrared cameras were installed in 108 locations, resulting in 401 and 620 valid records collected in non-salt and natural salt sites respectively. The results indicated that the daily activity rhythm of sambar deer differed across four seasons. In spring, daily activity peaked in the evening during the hours of 17:00-20:00. In summer, the peaks of diurnal activity were not obvious. Sambar deer had only one activity peak in autumn, during the hours of 17:00-19:00. In winter, there were three peaks of daily activity, appearing during the hours of 8:00-10:00, 17:00-19:00, and 23:00-02:00 respectively. The peak of salt-licking behavior occurred during the hours of 22:00-04:00 at night, and there was no significant difference in salt-licking behavior rhythm between males and females (coefficient of overlapping Δ = 0.670). There are two categories of salt-licking behavior in sambar deer, licking alone or licking in groups, but licking alone occurred more frequently and comprised 57.6% of all salt-licking behavior. When licking in groups, the group size of sambar deer varied from 2 to 7, with the most common group size being 2, and comprised 21.5% of all salt-licking behavior. The female to male occurrence ratio (female and male) of sambar deer in valid photographs was 2.05:1 in non-salt licking sites and 2.66∶1 in salt licking sites,

indicating that female deer replenish salt more frequently than male deer. This study provides important scientific information for the management of this protected species in the nature reserve.

水鹿是我国二级重点保护野生动物。2016年5月到2017年5月，利用红外相机技术在四川鞍子河自然保护区的非盐井生境和盐井生境(盐场)对水鹿的群体结构、日活动节律及舔盐活动节律进行了研究。基于设置的108个红外相机，共收集到水鹿在非盐井区域的独立照片620张，盐井区域的独立照片401张。水鹿日活动节律在不同季节具有较大差异：春季日活动高峰出现在17:00~20:00；夏季无明显日活动高峰；秋季日活动高峰出现在17:00~19:00；冬季日活动高峰分别出现在08:00~10:00、17:00~19:00、23:00~02:00。舔盐活动高峰出现在22:00~04:00，雌雄个体舔盐活动节律大致相同(重叠指数Δ=0.738)。水鹿有单独舔盐和集群舔盐两种方式，其中单独舔盐出现频率较高(占总访问频次的57.6%)；舔盐的群体一般大小为2~7只，但以2只的群体居多(占总访问频次的21.5%)。在非盐井区域和盐井区域独立照片中水鹿的雌雄出现比例分别为2.05:1和2.66:1，表明雌鹿可能更需要补充盐分。本研究结果为保护区内水鹿的保护管理提供了基础的科学依据。