Activity rhythms, movements and patterns of sett use by badgers, Meles meles, in a Mediterranean woodland
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Activity rhythms and movement patterns of Eurasian badgers (Meles meles Linnaeus, 1758) inhabiting a cork oak woodland in SW Portugal are described. Twenty months of radio-tracking data for six individuals are presented. Badgers showed crepuscular or nocturnal activity, generally starting after sunset and ending before sunrise, being active on average for 8.26 hours per day. There was some seasonal variation in these parameters, but there was no evidence of any effect due to sex or moonlight. Nevertheless, wind speed seems to be associated with wide-ranging movements. No significant correlation was found between the onset of activity and sunset or between cessation of activity and sunrise. On average, badgers travelled 4378 m per night. Males usually had more extensive movements than did females, probably because maternal behaviour restricted female ranging. The mean distance between setts used on consecutive days was 295 m, and differed seasonally, being greater in spring 2000/2001 and summer 2000. Badgers inhabiting the cork oak woodland of our study area revealed lower sett fidelity than reported for their northern counterparts, especially those of lowland England. Only on 36% of occasions did they come back to sleep in the same sett, with females returning more often to the same den. The mean number of consecutive days spent in a sett was higher in spring and lower in summer.
Copyright 2005, Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Species with fuzzy borders: the taxonomic status and species limits of Saunders' vlei rat, Otomys saundersiae Roberts, 1929 (Rodentia, Muridae, Otomyini)
- Taxonomic status of Micronycteris homezi (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae)
- Small mammals of Maulino forest remnants, a vanishing ecosystem of south-central Chile
- Small mammal communities of tropical forest habitats in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, southern India
- Mensural discrimination of Myotis (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) in the southeastern United States
- Bats of the Potaro Plateau region, western Guyana
- Activity rhythms, movements and patterns of sett use by badgers, Meles meles, in a Mediterranean woodland
- Camera-trap study of ocelot and other secretive mammals in the northern Pantanal
- Defense behavior and nest architecture of Metachirus nudicaudatus Desmarest, 1817 (Marsupialia, Didelphidae)
- New data on chromosomes from murid Rodents of Benin - The karyotype of Myomys derooi
- Glyphonycteris daviesi (Hill, 1964), a rare Central American and Amazonian bat recorded for Eastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae)
- Cache pilferage in red-rumped agoutis (Dasyprocta leporina) (Rodentia)
- Winter distribution of European pine marten (Martes martes) scats in a protected area of Galicia, Spain
- Possible evidence of a thermoregulatory response to increasing above ground ambient temperature in the water vole (Arvicola terrestris L.)
- A documented 20th century record of Javan Rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus from Cambodia
- Régime alimentaire du rat-taupe géant, Cryptomys mechowi, sur le plateau de Bateke, République Démocratique du Congo
Articles in the same Issue
- Species with fuzzy borders: the taxonomic status and species limits of Saunders' vlei rat, Otomys saundersiae Roberts, 1929 (Rodentia, Muridae, Otomyini)
- Taxonomic status of Micronycteris homezi (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae)
- Small mammals of Maulino forest remnants, a vanishing ecosystem of south-central Chile
- Small mammal communities of tropical forest habitats in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, southern India
- Mensural discrimination of Myotis (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) in the southeastern United States
- Bats of the Potaro Plateau region, western Guyana
- Activity rhythms, movements and patterns of sett use by badgers, Meles meles, in a Mediterranean woodland
- Camera-trap study of ocelot and other secretive mammals in the northern Pantanal
- Defense behavior and nest architecture of Metachirus nudicaudatus Desmarest, 1817 (Marsupialia, Didelphidae)
- New data on chromosomes from murid Rodents of Benin - The karyotype of Myomys derooi
- Glyphonycteris daviesi (Hill, 1964), a rare Central American and Amazonian bat recorded for Eastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae)
- Cache pilferage in red-rumped agoutis (Dasyprocta leporina) (Rodentia)
- Winter distribution of European pine marten (Martes martes) scats in a protected area of Galicia, Spain
- Possible evidence of a thermoregulatory response to increasing above ground ambient temperature in the water vole (Arvicola terrestris L.)
- A documented 20th century record of Javan Rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus from Cambodia
- Régime alimentaire du rat-taupe géant, Cryptomys mechowi, sur le plateau de Bateke, République Démocratique du Congo
