Search

In total, 177 of 245 terrestrial carnivores are described as solitary, and much of carnivore ecology is built on the assumptions that interactions between adult solitary carnivores are rare. We employed Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and motion-triggered cameras to test predictions of land-tenure territoriality and the resource dispersion hypothesis in a territorial carnivore, the puma Puma concolor. We documented 89 independent GPS interactions, 60% ofwhich occurred at puma kills (n = 53), 59 camera interactions, 11 (17%) ofwhich captured courtship behaviors, and 5 other interactions (1 F-F, 3 M-F, and 1 M-M). Mean minimum weekly contact rates were 5.5 times higher in winter, the season when elk Cervus elaphus were aggregated at lower elevations and during which puma courtship primarily occurred. In winter, contacts rates were 0.6 ± 0.3 (standard deviation (SD)) interactions/week vs. 0.1 ± 0.1 (SD) interactions/week during summer. The preponderance of interactions at food sources supported the resource dispersion hypothesis, which predicts that resource fluxes can explain temporary social behaviors that do not result in any apparent benefits for the individuals involved. Conspecific tolerance is logical when a prey is so large that the predator that killed it cannot consume it entirely, and thus, the costs of tolerating a conspecific sharing the kill are less than the potential costs associated with defending it and being injured. Puma aggregations at kills numbered as high as 9, emphasizing the need for future research on what explains tolerance among solitary carnivores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spacing patterns of large carnivores can affect demographic parameters of populations that, in turn, influence effective population size. As a result, better understanding of spatial structure can provide insight into effective conservation strategies. We examined home-range size, spacing characteristics, and changes in land tenure of radiocollared Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) on the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik, Russia, from 1992 to 2006. We predicted that both sexes would maintain spatially exclusive home ranges and that subadult female tigers would tend toward philopatry and males would disperse. Home ranges (95% fixed kernel estimates; mean ± SD) of resident females (n = 20 home ranges of 14 females; 390 ± 136 km²) were significantly (P = 0.003) smaller than those of males (n = 6 home ranges of 5 males; 1,385 ± 539 km²). Geometric mean overlap between adjacent females (0.11 ± 0.11 SD) did not differ from that between adjacent males (0.14 ± 0.12). All radiocollared male cubs dispersed (n = 7), but only 2 of 6 female cubs dispersed from their natal home ranges. When human-caused mortality was low, female tigers survived long enough to divide their home range with their daughters, resulting in smaller home ranges and a higher density of breeding females. All females reproduced in these smaller territories, suggesting that they maintained home ranges that were larger than needed to meet reproductive demands. However, when human-caused mortality was high, females often did not survive long enough to bequeath home ranges to daughters, and population density was apparently maintained well below carrying capacity. The impacts of poaching appear to extend beyond the direct loss of individuals, and therefore reserves must be well protected if they are to serve as source populations for adjacent, unprotected areas of tiger habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with a study which monitored the reproduction of female Amur tigers in the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik, Russia. Materials and methods; Results; Discussion.