Seasonal Daytime Activity Budget of Mongolian Gobi Argali Sheep (Ovis ammon) (original) (raw)
Related papers
2005
Conservation of Argali sheep (Ovis ammon) presents a significant challenge to biologists and conservation managers in Mongolia. Argali are endangered and available data suggest that their numbers are declining. However, the mechanisms causing this decline are poorly understood. Recent research suggests that declines in Argali sheep numbers may be due in part to competition with domestic livestock for forage. Following privatization of herd ownership in 1991, livestock numbers increased dramatically across Mongolia. With this increase, many herders expanded grazing onto more marginal rangeland resulting in increased competition with wild ungulates and displacement of Argali from their former population strongholds. Although protected areas encompass a considerable number of these strongholds, livestock grazing is permitted within all protected areas and overgrazing is an increasing concern. In this study, we examined winter pasture conditions and forage use of Argali in the Gobi Gurv...
Investigations on periparturient behaviour in free-ranging mouflon sheep (Ovis orientalis musimon)
Journal of Zoology, 1998
We studied the behaviour of free-ranging female mouflon sheep (age 3-5 years) in the period periparturition. The study area is situated in the north-east of Germany (52°59'N, 13°50'E). For continuous data collection, we used the storage-telemetry-system ETHOSYS. Activity and foraging behaviour of five females were recorded every second by electronic sensors integrated in a collar round the sheeps neck (weight 300 g). Whenever the animals visit a special 'link-station', insta1led at a combined saltlick/feeder station, the recorded data are transmitted from the co1lar to the station and then to a laptop. In addition, we recorded continuously the presence of sheep at the saltlick using a camera-system, including a daylight and an infra-red camera.
Diet characteristics of wild sheep (Ovis ammon darwini) in the Mengluoke Mountains, Xinjiang, China
Journal of Arid Land, 2018
In most arid and semi-arid regions of the world, domestic livestock and native wildlife share pastures, and their competition for forage and habitat is thought to be a serious conservation issue. Moreover, unmanaged grazing by livestock can cause the population decline in wild ungulates. The diet of an animal species is a determining aspect of its ecological niche, and investigating its diet has been one of the initial steps in basic ecology study of a new species. To get an approximate understanding of the interspecific food relationships of argali (Ovis ammon darwini) between sexes, and sympatric domestic sheep and goats, we compared the diet compositions and diet-overlaps among these herbivores, i.e., male argali, female argali, domestic sheep, and domestic goats in the Mengluoke Mountains of Xinjiang, China by using micro-histological fecal analysis. Female argali, male argali, domestic sheep and domestic goat primarily consumed forbs (43.31%±4.86%), grass (36.02%±9.32%), forbs (41.01%±9.18%), and forbs (36.22%±10.61%), respectively in warm season. All these animals consumed mostly shrubs (female argali: 36.47%±7.56%; male argali: 47.28%±10.75%; domestic sheep: 40.46%±9.56%; and domestic goats: 42.88%±9.34%, respectively) in cold season. The diet-overlaps were relatively high among all species in cold season with values ranging from 0.88 to 0.94. Furthermore, Schoener's index measured between each possible pair of 4 herbivores increased from the warm season to the cold season. The results illustrate that the high degree of diet-overlap of argali and domestic livestock (sheep and goat) may pose a threat to the survival of the argali in cold season. From the viewpoint of rangeland management and conservation of the endangered argali, the numbers of domestic sheep and goats should be limited in cold season to reduce food competition.
Habitat shift and time budget of the Tibetan argali: the influence of livestock grazing
Ecological Research, 2006
Livestock production is the primary source of livelihood and income in most of the high steppe and alpine regions of the Indian Trans-Himalaya. In some areas, especially those established or proposed for biodiversity conservation, recent increases in populations of domestic livestock, primarily sheep and goats, have raised concern about domestic animals competitively excluding wild herbivores from the rangelands. We evaluated the influence of domestic sheep and goat grazing on the habitat use and time budget of the endangered Tibetan argali Ovis ammon hodgsoni in the proposed Gya-Miru Wildlife Sanctuary, Ladakh, India. We asked if the domestic sheep and goat grazing and collateral human activities relegate the argali to suboptimal habitats, and alter their foraging time budgets. Data were collected on habitat use and time budget of a population of c. 50 argalis before and after c. 2,000 sheep and goats moved onto their winter pasture in the Tsabra catchment of the aforementioned reserve. Following the introduction of domestic sheep and goats, argalis continued to use the same catchment but shifted to steeper habitats, closer to cliffs, with lower vegetation cover, thus abandoning previously used plant communities with denser cover. Argalis' active time spent foraging also decreased by 10% in response to the presence of livestock. These results suggest a clear disturbance effect of livestock on argalis, and indicate a potential for competition, conceivably a significant disadvantage for argalis in winter when forage availability is minimal.
PloS one, 2018
Rumination is the repeated process of regurgitation of a food bolus, followed by chewing, swallowing, and regurgitation, which enhance nutrient assimilation. Time spent in lateral recumbency (i.e., bedded, lying) has often been used as a proxy for time spent ruminating due to difficulties of observing detailed rumination behavior in the field. The actual proportion of time spent ruminating, or other activities, will in turn be affected by the age and sex of an individual but also with changes in food quality. We studied the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on time spent ruminating, bedding, proportion of bedding time spent ruminating, and grazing of individually marked bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Our results show that bighorn sheep spent more time ruminating and less time grazing in summer and autumn. Overall, females spent less time ruminating, and more time grazing than males. Bighorn sheep decreased their time spent ruminating with increasing acid detergent fiber (...
Czech Journal of Animal Science
Activity time budget patterns and grazing response to sward and environmental conditions were investigated for paddocks of sheep and goats co-grazing for conservation purposes on a semi-natural species-rich dry grassland community endangered by shrub and tall perennial plant encroachment in a protected nature reserve in South Moravia (Czech Republic). Grazing was conducted by a rotational stocking system for 14 weeks in late grazing season in 2008 with 60 dry ewes and 20 goats. Twelve ewes and four goats were observed; grazing, ruminating, idling and other activities (salt licking, social interactions, walking), along with topographical position in the paddock were recorded at 5-minute intervals within 14 hours of daylight. Sheep and goats did not differ in their principal activity time budgets, such as the average total daylight time spent grazing (sheep: 8.57 h, goats: 8.59 h), ruminating (sheep: 1.42 h, goats: 1.44 h), or idling (sheep: 3.23 h, goats: 3.18 h), the duration of bou...
Ecology and behaviour of domestic sheep (Ovis aries): a review
Mammal Review, 1975
Animal requirements for food, water, shelter, protection from predators, and control of disease and parasites have been largely met by man and the forces for selection which operated among the progenitors of domestic sheep have been largely negated. Despite this, genetic selection still goes on. Behavioural adaptation to a wide variety of environmental and nutritional regimes is a common feature among free-ranging sheep. Reproductive success, a matter of considerable commercial concern is often poor. Lamb survival is of critical importance. Factors involved in neonatal mortality are reviewed in detail. Finally, the now extensive literature on sheep behaviour, physiology and management is collated in a bibliography with over 150 literature citations. Sebeok). Indiana University Press. Nutrition, 2,29&305. Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin No. 819. Massey Agricultural College (N.Z.) 2, 5-22. management procedures.
Heavy grazing constraints on foraging behavior of Mongolian livestock
Grassland Science, 2009
We investigated the effects of overgrazing on the foraging behavior of livestock on a Mongolian steppe, by quantifying some behaviors of cattle, sheep and goats foraging in a lightly and a heavily grazed area in summer and winter. All animal species showed higher walking velocity and tended to show higher step/bite ratio when they foraged in the heavily grazed area than in the lightly grazed area. The effect of overgrazing on the step/bite ratio was greater in sheep and goats than in cattle, and the effect on the walking velocity was stronger in winter than in summer. The results indicate that heavy grazing altered the foraging behavior of animals imposing higher foraging costs, which varied among the animal species and between the seasons. The declined quantity of preferred species in the heavily grazed area required high searching efforts and decreased the bite rate, for selecting acceptable plants and better feeding sites. The stronger effects on sheep and goats than on cattle and in winter than in summer may reflect different foraging behavior potentials among the animals and different food availabilities between the seasons. We suggest that the ongoing increase in the number of goats in Mongolia is problematic not only from the viewpoint of grassland deterioration but also from feeding cost of whole livestock animals.
Animal Behaviour, 1971
Data were collected, for 20 consecutive days, on activity patterns in Merino wethers in an outdoor experiment conducted in early summer. A bimodal frequency distribution was fou/id in respect to the activity pattern. Eating and drinking were the principal activities apart from walking between the food and water sources which were 3.2 km apart. Long periods of eachday were devoted to idling. Onset of activity was found to be highly correlated with sunrise but cessation of activity showed no relationship with sunset. The relation of these observations to behaviour of free-ranging sheep is discussed. An aspect of considerable importance to survival of domestic sheep in arid and semi-arid regions is their ability to walk long distances each day between the widely spaced watering points and the grazing areas (Squires 1970a). Under freerange conditions, a large number of environmental and other variables exert an influence on behaviour of grazing sheep. Some simplification of the situation to include fewer variables is desirable in studies of activity patterns. Accordingly, an experimental unit was developed to record animal movements and patterns of ingestive behaviour in an outdoor environment. Data were collected using automatic recording units which utilized both mechanical and photographic devices (Squires, Daws & Bawden 1969). The effect of distance between food and water on intakes by sheep of contrasting age (Squires 1970b) and breed (Squires & Wilson 1971) has been assessed in this way but temporal patterns of behaviour were all but ignored. The present paper records activity patterns in Merino wether sheep collected from an outdoor experiment early in summer 1967 to 1968 when the mean daily temperature was 28 °C.