title: Ranging behaviour of roe deer in an experimental high-density population: are females territorial?
abstract: We studied the ranging behaviour and spatial relationships between seven roe deer during more than 4 years in a partly wooded 14.2-ha enclosure. The animals (three young males, four adult females) were monitored with GPS telemetry collars. As expected, the surface area and overlap of the males' bimonthly ranges decreased, and the distance between their arithmetic centres increased, as they became adult and, for two of them, territorial. Unexpectedly, females also tended to space out, the surface area and overlap of their bimonthly ranges being minimal in May to June, i.e. during the birth period. The distance between their arithmetic centres reached its maximum at the same time. Overlap between females' ranges was consistently lower than those between males and females' ranges, or between 1-year old males' ranges. Our results raise the questions of female seasonal territoriality and of independence of the spacing systems of the two sexes in roe deer.
authors: Comportement et écologie de la faune sauvage, Institut national de la recherche agronomique, chemin de Borde-Rouge-Auzeville, BP 52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan cedex, France. marie-line.maublanc@toulouse.inra.fr
authors: Marie-Line
authors: ML
authors: Maublanc
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Bideau
authors: Romain
authors: R
authors: Willemet
authors: Clara
authors: C
authors: Bardonnet
authors: Georges
authors: G
authors: Gonzalez
authors: Lionel
authors: L
authors: Desneux
authors: Nicolas
authors: N
authors: Cèbe
authors: Jean-François
authors: JF
authors: Gerard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003670:Deer / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011156:Population Density; D012621:Seasons; D012737:Sex Factors; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D013731:Territoriality