Aspects of raccoon (Procyon lotor) social organization

1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik K. Fritzell
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Adult Male ◽  
Procyon Lotor ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
East Central ◽  
Pregnant Females ◽  
Temporal Relationships

Spatial and temporal relationships among members of a raccoon (Procyon lotor) population were studied during spring and summer in east-central North Dakota during 1973–1975. Radio telemetry was used to locate 48 raccoons 6443 times. Livetrapping results and other observations suggested that most raccoons in the area were radio equipped; densities were estimated to be 0.5–1.0 resident/km2. Adult males maintained large areas relatively exclusive of other adult males; they seldom were located within 3 km of each other even though their home ranges abutted. One adult male responded to the death of an adjacent adult male by shifting movements into the dead male's former home range. Two or more parous or pregnant females resided within the home ranges of a single adult male. All yearling males showed signs of dispersal in May, June, or July; some occupied exclusive areas as adults in the following year. Parous or pregnant females (six adults, one yearling) occupied extensively overlapping home ranges but were never located with other adult or yearling raccoons. Nulliparous yearling females did not disperse and tolerated other raccoons. Territoriality is indicated among adult males probably in response to competition for access to females.

scholarly journals Capture Locations of Coyotes, Canis latrans, Bobcats, Lynx rufus, and Raccoons, Procyon lotor, Relative to Home Range Boundaries

2003 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip S. Gipson ◽  
Jan F. Kamler
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Canis Latrans ◽  
Procyon Lotor ◽  
Lynx Rufus ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
And Behavior

Previous research showed that Coyotes (Canis latrans) and other canids might be more vulnerable to capture near the boundary or outside of their home ranges, making the capture of specific individuals within their territories difficult. Information concerning capture vulnerability relative to home range boundaries for other carnivores is lacking. During a four-year study of carnivore ecology in Kansas, we compared capture locations of Coyotes, Bobcats (Lynx rufus), and Raccoons (Procyon lotor) to their home range boundaries to determine if they were more likely to be captured inside, or near the periphery of, their home ranges. Resident Coyotes were captured disproportionately more often (P < 0.01) near the periphery of their home ranges, whereas Bobcats, Raccoons, and transient Coyotes were captured equally (P > 0.05) in both areas of their home ranges. Differences in capture vulnerability within and between species might be related to differences in social organization and behavior.

scholarly journals Predispersal home range shift of an ocelot Leopardus pardalis (Carnivora: Felidae) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Mares ◽  
Ricardo S. Moreno ◽  
Roland W. Kays ◽  
Martin Wikelski
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Barro Colorado Island ◽  
Range Shift ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Adult Size ◽  
Subadult Male ◽  
Leopardus Pardalis ◽  
Natal Home

Home range shifts prior to natal dispersal have been rarely documented, yet the events that lead a subadult to abandon a portion of its home range and venture into unfamiliar territories, before eventually setting off to look for a site to reproduce, are probably related to the causes of dispersal itself. Here, we used a combination of manual radio-tracking and an Automated Radio Telemetry System to continuously study the movements of a subadult male ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), a solitary carnivore with sex-biased dispersal, on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, for 18 months from May 2003 through October 2004. The subadult ocelot?s parents were also radio-tracked to record possible parent-offspring interactions within their home ranges. At the age of ca. 21 months the subadult gradually began to shift its natal home range, establishing a new one used until the end of the study, in an area that had previously been used by another dispersing subadult male. Only three parent-offspring interactions were recorded during the four months around the time the range-shift occurred. The apparent peaceful nature of these encounters, along with the slow transition out of a portion of his natal home range, suggest the subadult was not evicted from his natal area by his parents. The timing of the shift, along with the subadult?s increase in weight into the weight range of adult ocelots four months after establishing the new territory, suggests that predispersal home range shifts could act as a low risk and opportunistic strategy for reaching adult size, while minimizing competition with parents and siblings, in preparation for an eventual dispersal into a new breeding territory.

scholarly journals Movements of Subadult Male Grizzly Bears, Ursus arctos, in the Central Canadian Arctic

2004 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Gau ◽  
Philip D. McLoughlin ◽  
Ray Case ◽  
H. Dean Cluff ◽  
Robert Mulders ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Grizzly Bears ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Subadult Male ◽  
Daily Movement

Between May 1995 and June 1999, we equipped eight subadult male (3-5 yrs old) Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) with satellite radio-collars within a study area of 235,000 km2, centred 400 km northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Subadult male annual home ranges were extraordinarily large (average = 11,407 km2, SE = 3849) due, in part, to their movement's occasional linear directionality. We believe their long-range linear movements may reflect some individuals tracking the migration of Caribou (Rangifer tarandus). Seasonal daily movement patterns were similar to adult males that were previously reported. The areas used by these bears are the largest ranges reported for any Grizzly Bears and the scale of their movements may put individual bears in contact with humans even when developments are hundreds of kilometres from the central home range of an animal.

scholarly journals Spatial Response to Linear Infrastructures by the Endangered Golden Lion Tamarin

Diversity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscila da Silva Lucas ◽  
Milene Alves-Eigenheer ◽  
Talitha Mayumi Francisco ◽  
James M. Dietz ◽  
Carlos Ramón Ruiz-Miranda
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Step Length ◽  
Home Range Size ◽  
Power Lines ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Lion Tamarin ◽  
Golden Lion Tamarin ◽  
Linear Infrastructures

Linear infrastructures are a primary driver of economic development. However, they also can negatively affect wildlife by mortality and the barrier effect. In this paper, we address how paved and unpaved roads, high-tension power lines, and gas/oil pipelines affect home range size, core areas, and movement in an endangered primate, the golden lion tamarin (GLT). Location data were recorded using radio telemetry on 16 groups in two protected areas and in privately owned forest fragments. The GLT’s home range, not core area, increased in size for the groups that occupied locations far from linear infrastructures; home range was also significantly influenced by available forest size. None of the home ranges contained a road, but home ranges did contain power lines. GLTs used the surrounding landscape near all types of infrastructure. Movement analysis showed that most of the step lengths (distances between subsequent locations) were less than 100 m between two consecutive locations, but step length was longer for roads and longer for groups in fully forested habitats. Tamarins avoided paved roads when in close proximity to this type of infrastructure; this behavior increased in areas without adequate adjacent forest habitat. Our results show that linear infrastructures differ in their level of impact: roads can act as a barrier, whereas other types of infrastructure have minimal effect on movement and home range. We discuss these differences in impact in terms of structure, maintenance schedules, and edge effects of infrastructure.

Feral Cats (Felis Catus L.) On New Zealand Farmland. Ii. Seasonal Activity.

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 707 ◽  
Author(s):  
NPE Langham
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Home Range ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Felis Catus ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Seasonal Activity ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Feral Cats ◽  
Resident Population

The activity patterns of a resident population of 15 feral cats (Felis catus L.) on New Zealand farmland were investigated from March 1984 until February 1987 by radiotelemetry. Females could be divided into two separate groups: (1) those denning in barns and (2) those denning in the swamp and willows. Females denning in barns were mainly nocturnal except in spring and summer when rearing kittens. Barn cats moved significantly further between dusk and dawn, except in autumn-winter, than those denning in swamp and willows which were active over 24 h. When not breeding, related females occupied the same barn. In both groups, the home range of female relatives overlapped. Males ranged over all habitats, and dominant adult males moved significantly further and had larger home ranges than other males in all seasons, except in summer when they rested, avoiding hot summer days. Only adult males were active during the day in spring and autumn-winter. The importance of a Zeitgeber in synchronising cat activity with that of the prey is examined. The significance of female den site is discussed in relation to proximity of food, predators, social behaviour and male defence.

The role of the bandwidth matrix in influencing kernel home range estimates for snakes using VHF telemetry data

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javan M. Bauder ◽  
David R. Breininger ◽  
M. Rebecca Bolt ◽  
Michael L. Legare ◽  
Christopher L. Jenkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Cross Validation ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Home Range Size ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Telemetry Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sampling Duration

Context Despite the diversity of available home range estimators, no single method performs equally well in all circumstances. It is therefore important to understand how different estimators perform for data collected under diverse conditions. Kernel density estimation is a popular approach for home range estimation. While many studies have evaluated different kernel bandwidth selectors, few studies have compared different formulations of the bandwidth matrix using wildlife telemetry data. Additionally, few studies have compared the performance of kernel bandwidth selectors using VHF radio-telemetry data from small-bodied taxa. Aims In this study, we used eight different combinations of bandwidth selectors and matrices to evaluate their ability to meet several criteria that could be potentially used to select a home range estimator. Methods We used handheld VHF telemetry data from two species of snake displaying non-migratory and migratory movement patterns. We used subsampling to estimate each estimator’s sensitivity to sampling duration and fix rate and compared home range size, the number of disjunct volume contours and the proportion of telemetry fixes not included in those contours among estimators. Key Results We found marked differences among bandwidth selectors with regards to our criteria but comparatively little difference among bandwidth matrices for a given bandwidth selector. Least-squares cross-validation bandwidths exhibited near-universal convergence failure whereas likelihood cross-validation bandwidths showed high sensitivity to sampling duration and fix rate. The reference, plug-in and smoothed cross-validation bandwidths were more robust to variation in sampling intensity, with the former consistently producing the largest estimates of home range size. Conclusions Our study illustrates the performance of multiple kernel bandwidth estimators for estimating home ranges with datasets typical of many small-bodied taxa. The reference and plug-in bandwidths with an unconstrained bandwidth matrix generally had the best performance. However, our study concurs with earlier studies indicating that no single home range estimator performs equally well in all circumstances. Implications Although we did not find strong differences between bandwidth matrices, we encourage the use of unconstrained matrices because of their greater flexibility in smoothing data not parallel to the coordinate axes. We also encourage researchers to select an estimator suited to their study objectives and the life history of their study organism.

Home-range changes by brushtail possums in response to control

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray Efford ◽  
Bruce Warburton ◽  
Nick Spencer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Home Range ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Population Recovery ◽  
Forest Patch ◽  
Net Flux ◽  
Reduced Density ◽  
Vacuum Effect

Common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) are intractable pests in New Zealand. The effectiveness of local control can be limited by immigration, some of which has been attributed to a ‘vacuum effect’ – directed movements induced by the control itself. To characterise the vacuum effect we examined changes in the home ranges of trapped possums following control in a 6-ha block at one end of a 13-ha forest patch on farmland near Dunedin, New Zealand. We also monitored a sample of possums by radio-telemetry. After control, the density was 3 ha–1 inside the removal area and 16 ha–1 outside. During the year after the removal, 29% of possums within 100 m of the boundary of the removal area (n = 38) shifted their range centre at least 50 m towards it. The effect diminished rapidly with distance: only 1 of 28 animals moved more than 200 m from the boundary. The size of the previous range was a significant predictor of movement among males, but this may be partly a sampling artifact. We measured a net flux of 69 possums km–1 across the boundary in the 12 months after control, and possums settled on average 44 6.9 m inside the boundary. The vacuum effect in brushtail possums appears largely confined to home-range adjustments by individuals with ranges overlapping the area of reduced density. This limits its potential role in population recovery.

Home range, movement and habitat utilisation of the Carpentarian rock-rat (Zyzomys palatalis) in an isolated habitat patch

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Puckey ◽  
Milton Lewis ◽  
David Hooper ◽  
Carrie Michell
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Limited Resource ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Habitat Patch ◽  
Minimum Convex Polygon ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Core Areas ◽  
The Mean

Radio-telemetry was used to examine the home range, movement and habitat utilisation of the critically endangered Carpentarian rock-rat (Zyzomys palatalis) in an isolated habitat patch in the Gulf of Carpentaria hinterland over a 13-month period. Two home-range estimators were used in the study, (i) minimum convex polygon (MCP) and (ii) fixed Kernel (KL), the latter also being used to estimate core areas of activity. Based on a total sample size of 21 individuals, the mean MCP home range was 11 165 m2, similar to the mean KL home range of 10 687 m2. Core areas were, on average, 11.9% of the KL home-range estimate. There was no significant difference in the size of home range or core area of males and females. Juveniles had a significantly smaller home range than adults. Home ranges and, to a lesser degree, core areas were non-exclusive, with multiple areas of overlap (averaging 41% and 38% respectively) within and between all age and gender categories, but especially between males and between juveniles. Movement frequencies showed that animals made many short forays in a central area close to the arithmetic home-range mean and far fewer long forays of distances greater than 100 m from the central area. The spatial and temporal activity of Z. palatalis was concentrated in, but not confined to, the 'valley' and 'slope' habitats, with fewer movements of rats onto the surrounding 'plateau'. Resource selection analyses showed that Z. palatalis tended to prefer valley and slope habitats over the plateau and that the proportion of point locations was significantly higher for adults in the slope habitat and for juveniles in the valley habitat. Most home ranges were centred on the ecotone between these two habitat types. Although isolated and spatially limited, these habitat patches provide high-quality resources for dense populations of Z. palatalis. This study exemplifies a species' attempt to make efficient use of a limited resource in an otherwise hostile environment. Even small declines in habitat area or quality due to their vulnerability to fire would impact upon many animals.

Natal dispersal of grizzly bears

2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 838-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce N McLellan ◽  
Frederick W Hovey
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Natal Dispersal ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Grizzly Bears ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Gradual Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dispersal Distances

We studied natal dispersal of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), a solitary nonterritorial carnivore with a promiscuous mating system, between 1979 and 1998. Dispersal distances for 2-year-olds did not differ between males and females, but by 3 years of age, males had dispersed farther than females, and farther still by 4 years of age. Dispersal of both sexes was a gradual process, occurring over 1–4 years. From the locations of death, or last annual ranges, it was estimated that 18 males dispersed 29.9 ± 3.5 km (mean ± SE) and 12 females dispersed 9.8 ± 1.6 km. Eleven of these males dispersed the equivalent of at least the diameter of 1 adult male home range, whereas only 3 of the females dispersed at least the diameter of 1 adult female home range. The longest dispersals recorded were 67 km for a male and 20 km for a female. Because the social system consists of numerous overlapping home ranges of both sexes, long dispersal distances may not be required to avoid inbreeding or competition with relatives. Simple models suggest that 61% of the ranges of brother and sister pairs would not overlap, but the home range of every daughter would overlap her father's range. The home range of an estimated 19 ± 4 (mean ± SD) adult males, however, would overlap at least a portion of each female's range, thereby reducing the chance of a female mating with her brother or father. Understanding the dispersal behaviour of grizzly bears is essential for developing conservation strategies. Our results suggest that meta-population reserve designs must provide corridors wide enough for male grizzly bears to live in with little risk of being killed.

Spatial-use patterns, movements, and interactions among adult coyotes in central Mississippi

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (12) ◽  
pp. 2087-2095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Chamberlain ◽  
Charles D Lovell ◽  
Bruce D Leopold
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Core Area ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Movement Rates ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Northern Regions ◽  
Range Overlap

Recently, coyotes (Canis latrans) have expanded their range to include most areas of the southeastern United States. However, most research on coyotes has been conducted in western and northern regions of North America. We radio-monitored 38 adult coyotes from 1993 to 1997 in central Mississippi. Home-range sizes (P = 0.681) and core-area (area of concentrated use) sizes (P = 0.736) were similar across seasons, but females maintained larger home ranges (P = 0.006) and core areas (P < 0.001) than males. Male-male, female-female, and male-female home-range overlap was greatest during whelping and pup rearing. Except for mated pairs, core-area overlap was negligible across all seasons for adults maintaining neighboring home ranges. Coyote habitat selection varied across spatial scales, though selection was similar between males and females at all scales. Coyote movement rates differed (P < 0.001) temporally, being highest during nocturnal periods. Overall, the highest movement rates for the monitored population were observed for females during summer. Two males and 2 females were suspected of forming pair bonds and frequently traveled together within shared home ranges, as did 2 adult males. Our data indicate that interactions among individual adults are influenced by sex, as most confirmed instances of direct contact occurred between pairs or suspected social groups. In our study area, neighboring adult coyotes exhibited territoriality at the core-area level.

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