Document Type : Original Article
Authors
- Xiuxiang Meng 1
- Songwei Lin 2
- Junsheng Li 1
- Liquan Shen 2
- Haoxiang GAO 2
- Jiayi Wu 2
- Qingxin Lv 2
- Xin Zhou 2
1 Command Center for Comprehensive Survey of Natural Resources, China Geological Survey Bureau, Beijing 100812, China
2 School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
Abstract
Activity patterns and time budgets are adaptions to an environment and have an impact on the successful farming and management of animals. From October 2nd to 16th, 2021, the behavior patterns of 53 forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) recorded throughout the day and night were analyzed. The results showed an obvious dawn–dusk activity rhythm in the captive forest musk deer, in which the activity peaked at dawn (07:00-10:00) and dusk (16:00-19:00), in addition to slightly smaller activity peaks with a duration shorter than 1 hour at night (00:00-04:00). Except for rumination behavior, the behavior ratios in the peak periods were significantly different with those in the off-peak period. Furthermore, it was found that there were no significant differences in the behavior ratios of the forest musk deer between the daytime and night-time, and the percentages of time spent performing locomotion (32.87±3.38%), feeding (14.43±1.81%), and rumination (5.62±1.46%) during the daytime were slightly higher than those in the night-time. In the practice of forest musk deer farming, the management of musk deer should match the activity patterns and behavioral rhythms of the animals to improve the farming outputs and the welfare of captive forest musk deer.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)