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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2015, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (2): 169-174.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20150221

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Time Budgets and Diurnal Activity Rhythms of Re-Introduced Wild Bactrian Camels in Semi-Free Environment during Early Winter

Xue Yadong1, Sun Zhicheng2, Wu Peng1,3, Zhang Yuguang1, Li Diqiang1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, CAF Beijing 100091;
    2. Administrative Bureau of Gansu Dunhuang Wetland National Nature Reserve Dunhuang 736299;
    3. Institute of Bamboos, Southwest Forestry University Kunming 650224
  • Received:2013-11-15 Revised:2014-05-28 Online:2015-02-25 Published:2015-03-11

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Abstract:

The wild Bactrian camel is a critically endangered species, and has high adaptability in extreme arid environments of Central Asia. Most researches about wild camel are limited on the field survey as the species is alert and distributed in arid and semi-arid areas. There are great knowledge gaps concerning the behavior ecology of the wild camels. From October to December in 2012, the behavioral time budget and diurnal activity rhythm of four released wild camels (two males and two females) in a semi-free environment were observed by the focal animal sampling method in Gansu Dunhuang Wetland National Nature Reserve. The behaviors were divided into six categories, resting, vigilance, moving, foraging, rumination and ‘the others’. The results showed that there was a significant difference in time expenditure on different behaviors by using the Kruskal-Wallis H test (P<0.01). However,there was no significant difference in time expenditure ratio on different behaviors between males and females by using Mann-Whitney U test (P>0.05). For the males, 28.13%±10.42% of diurnal time was spent on foraging, 23.63%±14.47% on moving, 22.15%±5.46% on vigilance, 18.84%±14.96% on resting, 4.79%±4.45% on rumination and 2.46%±1.98% on ‘the others’. For the females, due to the new environment, most of the time was spent on vigilance, accounting for 28.22%±10.74% of diurnal time, 24.47%±10.92% of diurnal time was on foraging, 19.68%±4.06% on resting, 18.29%±7.14% on moving, 5.48%±4.44% on rumination and 3.86%±2.26% on ‘the others’. As time passed, diurnal time expenditure on resting, vigilance and rumination showed a decreasing trend, on the contrary, time spent on moving and foraging expressed an increasing trend. For the males, the peaks of resting, vigilance and moving, foraging occurred at 13:00-14:00, 10:00-11:00 and 17:00-18:00, 11:00-12:00 and 15:00-16:00, respectively. For the females, the peaks of resting, vigilance and moving, foraging occurred at 14:00-15:00, 10:00-11:00 and 17:00-18:00, 11:00-12:00 and 16:00-17:00, respectively. Among different months, the resting, vigilance and foraging behaviors of females were significantly different (P<0.05). However, results of the Kruskal-Wallis H test suggested that there were no significant differences in all behaviors of males among different months. The behavioral time budget and diurnal activity rhythm of wild camels during initial releasing period expressed the similar strategy like most of ungulates. These results would be helpful to understand wild camels' behavioral ecology, and provide a guide for the conservation and management of wild camels.

Key words: semi-free environment, wild Bactrian camel, behavioral time budget, diurnal activity rhythm

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