| We observed and recorded the diurnal activities of semi-free ranging population of Hainan Eld's deer (Cervus eldi hainanus) in sucking period at the Wenchang Reserve Station of the Datian National Nature Reserve (19°49′N,110°55′E) from October 2007 to April 2008 by using Ad libitum sampling, focal animal sampling and all-occurrence sampling method. The activities were divided into 7 types, i.e. feeding, ruminating, resting, moving, standing, alerting and other behaviors. The result of study is as the following:(1) The process of infant behavioral development in sucking period were divided into three stages:the first stage (from birth to one month old), the second stage (from two to four months old); the third stages (from five to six months old). Kruskal Wallis H test were used to analyze diurnal activity budget differences among 3 stages. The extremely significant difference existed in feeding (χ2=13.893, P=0.001), resting (χ2=12.695, P=0.002), significant difference in ruminating (χ2=7.045, P=0.030) and no difference in moving (χ2=1.528, P=0.466), standing (χ2=4.442, P=0.110), alerting (χ2=3.180, P=0.204), others (χ2=5.462, P=0.065). There was the extremely significant positive correlations for feeding (r=0.964, n=6, P=0.002), ruminating (r=0.977, n=6, P=0.001) between diurnal activity time budget and month old. The extremely significant negative correlations existed in resting (r=-0.938, n=6, P=0.006), others (r=-0.949, n=6, P=0.004) between diurnal activity time budget and month old. No correlation appeared in moving (r=-0.382, n=6, P=0.445), alerting (r=-0.666, n=6, P=0.149) and standing(r=-0.429, n=6, P=0.397) between diurnal activity time budget and month old.(2) Population of Hainan Eld's deer in sucking period was divided into adult female group, adult male group, subadult group, infant group according to sex and age. Two feeding peaks of Infants were recorded in 9:00-10:00 and 16:00-18:00. Three feeding peaks in 9:00-10:00,11:00-12:00 and 16:00-18:00 existed in subadults and females. Four feeding peaks in 9:00-10:00,11:00-12:00,14:00-15:00 and 16:00-18:00 were observed in males. Two peaks of ruminating occurred in 9:00-10:00 and 13:00-14:00 in four groups. The same peaks of resting appeared in 8:00-9:00 and 15:00-16:00 in four groups. There is no evident peak for moving, standing, alerting among four groups, diurnal activity rhythms among them were similar.(3) Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyze activity budget differences between adult female group and adult male group. The extremely significant difference existed in resting (Z=-2.428, P=0.015), alerting (Z=-2.774, P=0.006) and others (Z=-4.990, P=0.000). The significant difference existed in ruminating (Z=-2.119, P=0.034) between them. There was no significant difference in feeding (Z=-0.366, P= 0.714), moving (Z=-1.488, P=0.137), standing (Z=-1.445, P=0.148) between the two adult sexes.(4) Kruskal Wallis H test was used to analyze diurnal activity budget difference among adults, subadults and infants. There were extremely significant difference activity time budget among them in feeding (χ2=10.761,P=0.005), resting (χ2=16.984, P=0.000), others (χ2=7.213, P=0.027). No significant difference among adults, subadults and infants existed in moving (χ2=0.295, P=0.863), ruminating (χ2=5.700, P=0.058), standing (χ2=1.872, P=0.392) and alerting (χ2=3.035, P=0.219).
|
PDF Full Text Request