Home range utilization and individual dispersal of re-introduced forest musk deer(Moschus berezovskii)

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  • (1 Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Animal Conservation,Collage of Science,Northwest University,Xi'an 710069,China)
    (2 Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Animal Conservation,Shaanxi Institute of Zoology,Xi'an 710032,China)
    (3 Shaanxi Forestry Bureau,Xi'an 710082,China) (4 Ningdong Forestry Bureau, Shaanxi province,Xi'an 710100,China)
    (5 Xunyangba Forest Farm, Ningdong Forestry Bureau, Shaanxi province,Xunyangba 711603, China)

Online published: 2020-04-09

Abstract

Forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) is a typical forest-dwelling Even-toed ungulate, and one of the national first-class protected animal species in China. Habitat loss is a key factor in its endangered. The premise of protecting this rare species is to know about the basic information of home range and habitat preference. It is hard to be traced in research due to the pressures from human-induced activities that has made them very timorous to humans. Thus, researches on its application of home ranges and territory defense, and the related behaviors are very scarce. In June 2017, we re-introduced eight forest musk deer, each of which was fitted with a GPS collar in Pingheliang National Nature Reserve of Shaanxi Province, China. We obtained databases of the tracking records from six collars to calculate the size of its home range by using the fixed kernel estimator method, and analyzed its habitat selection and dispersal behaviors. Our results confirmed that the re-introduced musk deer occupy respective home range during non-breeding season, which shows solitary. They preferred the areas which were rich of vegetation and close to water resource as habitats. Its individuals preferred the areas characterized by semi-shade and semi-sun steep slopes with cliffs. The results also showed that the home range and core home areas used by male deer were 168.85 ha and 40.08 ha, separately; while those used by females included 64.87 ha and 15.36 ha, respectively. During mating season, the adult male migrated toward female, leading to an overlapping of home range. Based on these data, the research showed that the home range may be higher than previous estimation, which indicated we should enlarge its basic living area in following work of conservation and management.

Cite this article

LIU Jiahui, WANG Yan, BIAN Kun, TANG Jie, WANG Weifeng, GUO Linwen, WANG Bo, FANG Gu, ZHAO Lan, QI Xiaoguang . Home range utilization and individual dispersal of re-introduced forest musk deer(Moschus berezovskii)[J]. ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA, 2020 , 40(2) : 109 -119 . DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150360

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