Behavioral responses of white-tailed deer subjected to lethal management

2008 ◽  
Vol 86 (12) ◽  
pp. 1358-1366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott C. Williams ◽  
Anthony J. DeNicola ◽  
Isaac M. Ortega
Keyword(s):  
Global Positioning System ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Population Reduction ◽  
Global Positioning ◽  
Lethal Management ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Range Overlap ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Interaction Behaviors

Currently, the most effective and cost-efficient mechanism for controlling overabundant white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)) is lethal removal, most commonly controlled hunting and sharpshooting. Deer subjected to such efforts may behave differently during removal and remaining deer may alter behaviors, potentially limiting future efficacy of removal efforts. Our objectives were to quantify changes in deer distribution in response to controlled hunting and sharpshooting. We immobilized two sample populations of 20 deer (one enclosed and one free-ranging) in central New Jersey, USA, and fitted them with global positioning system collars. The free-ranging herd experienced 11 days of controlled hunting, reducing density from 78 to 27 deer/km2. We subjected the enclosed herd to a 7 day sharpshoot, reducing density from 83 to 7 deer/km2. Hunted deer increased mean home ranges during removal, while deer exposed to sharpshooting did not. Collared doe–doe home-range overlap increased postsharpshoot, suggesting increased social interaction. Behaviors of hunted deer were directly affected by the human threat, while behavioral changes of deer exposed to sharpshooting were linked to population reduction. In the absence of an intact matrilineal social group, unrelated does will seek each other out in what appears to be an inherent need to be social.

Behavioral responses of coyotes to wolf recolonization in northwestern Montana

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (12) ◽  
pp. 1919-1927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy M Arjo ◽  
Daniel H Pletscher
Keyword(s):  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Wolf Population ◽  
Temporal Separation ◽  
Temporal Partitioning ◽  
Northwestern Montana ◽  
Range Overlap ◽  
Overlap Area

Recent recolonization of northwestern Montana by wolves (Canis lupus) provided an opportunity to examine behavioral responses of coyotes (Canis latrans) to a reestablished wolf population. Coyote and wolf annual home ranges overlapped extensively; however, seasonal overlap was not as pronounced. Most seasonal coyote home ranges were located between wolf packs or along the edge of wolf territories, but wolves and coyotes did not use the seasonal overlap area differently than expected. Most of the coyotes maintained random separation distances from wolves, though three coyotes were closer to wolves than expected. No difference in summer activity was found between the canids; however, temporal partitioning occurred during the winter, which may have allowed the increase in home-range overlap observed during the winter. Additionally, temporal partitioning occurred through differential arrangement of canid home ranges (i.e., wolf home ranges were smaller in summer) and reduced overlap of seasonal home ranges. Coyotes were usually singletons and some pairs, and before wolf colonization they fed on lagomorphs and plants. After wolf colonization, coyotes tended to be in pairs and small packs and they relied on ungulates. Although we documented wolves killing coyotes, coyotes are coexisting with wolves through spatial and temporal separation and behavioral changes.

Causes and Consequences of Timing Errors Associated With Global Positioning System Collar Accelerometer Activity Monitors

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 372-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. Gaylord ◽  
Dana M. Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Global Positioning System ◽  
Animal Behavior ◽  
Cervus Elaphus ◽  
Activity Monitor ◽  
Positioning System ◽  
Activity Monitors ◽  
Timing Errors ◽  
Global Positioning ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Monitor Data

Abstract Direct behavioral observations of multiple free-ranging animals over long periods of time and large geographic areas is prohibitively difficult. However, recent improvements in technology, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) collars equipped with motion-sensitive activity monitors, create the potential to remotely monitor animal behavior. Accelerometer-equipped activity monitors quantify animal motion with different amounts of movement presumably corresponding to different animal activities. Variations in motion among species and differences in collar design necessitate calibration for each collar and species of interest. We paired activity monitor data collected using Lotek GPS_4400 collars worn by captive Rocky Mountain elk Cervus elaphus nelsoni with simultaneously collected behavior observations. During our initial data screening, we observed many sampling intervals of directly observed behavior that did not pair to activity monitor data in a logical fashion. For example, intervals containing behaviors associated with little or no motion sometimes aligned with relatively high activity monitor values. These misalignments, due to errors associated with collar timekeeping mechanisms, would likely result in inaccurate classification models. We corrected timing errors by using defined breaks in animal behavior to shift times given by collar output, improving the average correct classification rate 61.7 percentage points for specific behaviors. Furthermore, timing errors were significantly reduced by increasing the GPS fix rate, by using a sampling interval divisible by 8 seconds, and by accurately timing the initial collar activation. Awareness and management of collar timing error will enable users to obtain the best possible estimates of true behavior when calibrating these collars and interpreting data from free-ranging animals.

Movements and habitat selection by wild dogs in eastern Victoria

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Robley ◽  
Andrew Gormley ◽  
David M. Forsyth ◽  
Alan N. Wilton ◽  
Danielle Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Home Range ◽  
Global Positioning System ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Canis Lupus Familiaris ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Global Positioning ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs

To investigate movements and habitat selection by wild dogs we attached satellite-linked global positioning system (GPS) units to nine wild dogs (Canis lupus dingo and Canis lupus familiaris) captured in eastern Victoria in summer 2007. Units estimated locations at 30-min intervals for the first six months and then at 480-min intervals for six more months. DNA testing revealed all these wild dogs to be related. Home ranges of males were almost three times larger than those of females (males: 124.3 km2 ± 56.3, n = 4; females: 45.2 km2 ± 17.3, n = 5) and both sexes preferred subalpine grassland, shrub or woodland at the landscape and home-range scales. Wild dogs were recorded more often than expected within 25 m of roads and less often than expected within 25 m of watercourses. Wild dogs displayed higher-velocity movements with shallow turning angles (generally forwards) that connected spatial and temporal clusters comprising slower-velocity, shorter, and sharper turning movements. One wild dog travelled 230 km in 9 days before returning to its home range and another travelled 105 km in 87 days. The home-range sizes reported in this study are much larger than previously reported in south-eastern Australia. This finding, together with previous studies, suggests that the spatial scale at which wild dog management occurs needs to be reconsidered.

scholarly journals Conservation introduction of the threatened Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata: post-release dispersal differs between wild-caught and captive founders

Oryx ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bocci ◽  
S. Menapace ◽  
S. Alemanno ◽  
S. Lovari
Keyword(s):  
Global Positioning System ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Central Apennines ◽  
Rupicapra Pyrenaica ◽  
Global Positioning ◽  
Movement Frequency ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractSixteen Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata (10 females, 6 males) were released into a protected area, the Sibillini Mountains National Park, Central Apennines, Italy, and monitored using global positioning system radio tags during 2008–2010. Founders caught in the wild (n = 8) and those reared in large enclosures (n = 8) differed in movement frequency (inter-fix distance per hour) and maximum distance covered (from the release site) in the first 5 months after release: both were significantly greater in wild individuals, males moved significantly more than females, wild individuals shifted their home ranges significantly more often than captive ones, and no differences were observed between the sexes or age classes. A mixed strategy of selection of wild and captive founders has proven successful in preventing large movements in the initial stages of release yet still providing sufficient opportunity to avoid inbreeding depression.

scholarly journals Shearwaters know the direction and distance home but fail to encode intervening obstacles after free-ranging foraging trips

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (43) ◽  
pp. 21629-21633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Padget ◽  
Geoff Stanley ◽  
Jay K. Willis ◽  
Annette L. Fayet ◽  
Sarah Bond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Positioning System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Positioning System ◽  
Global Positioning ◽  
Displacement Experiments ◽  
Integration Mechanisms ◽  
Gps Tracks ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Manx Shearwater ◽  
Pelagic Seabird

While displacement experiments have been powerful for determining the sensory basis of homing navigation in birds, they have left unresolved important cognitive aspects of navigation such as what birds know about their location relative to home and the anticipated route. Here, we analyze the free-ranging Global Positioning System (GPS) tracks of a large sample (n = 707) of Manx shearwater, Puffinus puffinus, foraging trips to investigate, from a cognitive perspective, what a wild, pelagic seabird knows as it begins to home naturally. By exploiting a kind of natural experimental contrast (journeys with or without intervening obstacles) we first show that, at the start of homing, sometimes hundreds of kilometers from the colony, shearwaters are well oriented in the homeward direction, but often fail to encode intervening barriers over which they will not fly (islands or peninsulas), constrained to flying farther as a result. Second, shearwaters time their homing journeys, leaving earlier in the day when they have farther to go, and this ability to judge distance home also apparently ignores intervening obstacles. Thus, at the start of homing, shearwaters appear to be making navigational decisions using both geographic direction and distance to the goal. Since we find no decrease in orientation accuracy with trip length, duration, or tortuosity, path integration mechanisms cannot account for these findings. Instead, our results imply that a navigational mechanism used to direct natural large-scale movements in wild pelagic seabirds has map-like properties and is probably based on large-scale gradients.

scholarly journals GPS Telemetry Reveals a Zebra With Anthrax as Putative Cause of Death for Three Cheetahs in the Namib Desert

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben Portas ◽  
Ortwin H. K. Aschenborn ◽  
Joerg Melzheimer ◽  
Manie Le Roux ◽  
Kenneth Heinrich Uiseb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bacillus Anthracis ◽  
Global Positioning System ◽  
Bacterial Disease ◽  
High Seroprevalence ◽  
Namib Desert ◽  
Gps Telemetry ◽  
Carnivore Species ◽  
Global Positioning ◽  
Herbivore Species ◽  
Free Ranging

Anthrax is a bacterial disease caused by Bacillus anthracis that affects wildlife, livestock and also humans in different parts of the world. It is endemic in some parts of Africa, including Namibia, with species differing in their susceptibility to the disease. Carnivores are typically less susceptible to anthrax than herbivores. Most carnivore species survive infection and have high seroprevalence against anthrax, whereas most herbivore species have low seroprevalence and typically die quickly when infected. Several reports have shown that cheetahs, unlike most other large carnivores, are susceptible to anthrax leading to a sudden death. This finding was suggested to be linked to the low genetic variability of cheetahs which might reduce an adequate immune response and thus explain such a high susceptibility to the disease. Here, we report an incidence of three free-ranging cheetahs that died within 24 h after feeding on a mountain zebra that tested positive for anthrax in the Namib Desert. We were able to reconstruct this incidence with the data recorded in the GPS (Global Positioning System) collar worn by one of the cheetahs and retrieved in the field. It is very likely that the cheetahs died from anthrax, although Bacillus anthracis could not be isolated from tissue and soil samples by bacterial culturing. The mountain zebra is the first described case of a wild animal that tested positive for anthrax in this arid area in southwestern of Namibia. We discuss the negative laboratory results of the cheetahs in the light of new insights of their immune system and its potential to mount a response against this bacteria.

scholarly journals Physiological and behavioural responses of moose to hunting with dogs

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Randi Græsli ◽  
Luc Le Grand ◽  
Alexandra Thiel ◽  
Boris Fuchs ◽  
Olivier Devineau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Positioning System ◽  
Maximum Speed ◽  
Optimal Management ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Gps Collars ◽  
Global Positioning ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Ruminal Temperature ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Maximum Body

Abstract Optimal management of hunted species requires an understanding of the impacts of hunting on both individual animal and population levels. Recent technological advancements in biologging enable us to obtain increasingly detailed information from free-ranging animals, covering longer periods of time, and providing the data needed to assess such impacts. In Sweden, more than 80 000 moose are harvested annually, mostly hunted with the use of baying dogs. The effects of this hunting method on animal welfare and stress are understudied. Here, we evaluated 6 real and 17 experimental hunting approaches with baying dogs [wearing global positioning system (GPS) collars] on 8 adult female moose equipped with ruminal temperature loggers, subcutaneous heart rate (HR) loggers and GPS collars with accelerometers. The obtained data were used to analyse the behavioural and physiological responses of moose to hunting with dogs. Successful experimental approaches (moose and dog were within 240 m for >10 min) resulted in higher maximum body temperature (Tb, 0.88°C higher) and a mean increase in HR of 24 bpm in moose at the day of the approach compared to the day after. The moose rested on average >90 min longer the day after the approach compared to the day of the approach. The moose travelled on average 4.2 km longer and had a 1.3 m/s higher maximum speed the day of the approach compared to the day after. Our results demonstrate that hunting with dogs increase moose energy expenditure and resting time (and consequently decrease time available for foraging) on an individual level. This could possibly affect body condition and reproduction rates if the hunting disturbances occur frequently.

What determines global positioning system fix success when monitoring free-ranging mouflon?

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 603-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles Bourgoin ◽  
Mathieu Garel ◽  
Dominique Dubray ◽  
Daniel Maillard ◽  
Jean-Michel Gaillard
Keyword(s):  
Global Positioning System ◽  
Positioning System ◽  
Global Positioning ◽  
Free Ranging

scholarly journals Post-Release Monitoring of Western Grey Kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) Relocated from an Urban Development Site

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1914
Author(s):  
Mark Cowan ◽  
Mark Blythman ◽  
John Angus ◽  
Lesley Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Global Positioning System ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Camera Traps ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Global Positioning ◽  
Development Site ◽  
Very High

The expansion of urban areas and associated clearing of habitat can have severe consequences for native wildlife. One option for managing wildlife in these situations is to relocate them. While there is a general perception that relocation is humane, transparency of outcomes is lacking. Here, we document the outcome of 122 western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) relocated from an urban development site on the edge of Perth, Western Australia. Global Positioning System (GPS) or Very High Frequency (VHF) collars were fitted to 67 kangaroos, and their survival and movement were monitored over 12 months using telemetry, camera traps and spotlighting. Only six collared animals survived for the duration of the study with most dying within a week of the relocation, indicating stress associated with capture as the likely cause. By the completion of the study, 111 kangaroos were predicted to have died based on the proportion of individuals known to have died. Movement patterns of surviving GPS collared kangaroos changed over time from largely exploratory forays, to more repeated movements between focus areas within home ranges. The poor outcome here raises concerns around the viability of relocating a relatively large number of kangaroos as a management option. It also highlights the need for careful planning to limit the stress associated with capture and transport if relocations are to be used for managing kangaroos in urban areas.

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