Department of Game Management and Wildlife Biology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
Institute of Zoology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33/I, 1180, Vienna, Austria.
Sci Rep. 2024 Mar 21;14(1):6770. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-56951-0.
Many animals return to their home areas (i.e., 'homing') after translocation to sites further away. Such translocations have traditionally been used in behavioral ecology to understand the orientation and migration behavior of animals. The movement itself can then be followed by marking and recapturing animals or by tracking, for example, using GPS systems. Most detailed studies investigating this behavior have been conducted in smaller vertebrates (e.g., birds, amphibians, and mice), whereas information on larger mammals, such as red deer, is sparse. We conducted GPS-assisted translocation experiments with red deer at two sites in the Czech Republic. Individuals were translocated over a distance of approximately 11 km and their home journey was tracked. Circular statistics were used to test for significant homeward orientation at distances of 100, 500, 1000, and 5000 m from the release site. In addition, we applied Lavielle trajectory segmentation to identify the different phases of homing behavior. Thirty-one out of 35 translocations resulted in successful homing, with a median time of 4.75 days (range 1.23-100 days). Animals were significantly oriented towards home immediately after release and again when they came closer to home; however, they did not show a significant orientation at the distances in between. We were able to identify three homing phases, an initial 'exploratory phase', followed by a 'homing phase' which sometimes was again followed by an 'arrival phase'. The 'homing phase' was characterized by the straightest paths and fastest movements. However, the variation between translocation events was considerable. We showed good homing abilities of red deer after translocation. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of conducting experiments with environmental manipulations (e.g., to impede the use of sensory cues) close to the release site. The homing behavior of red deer is comparable to that of other species, and might represent general homing behavior patterns in animals. Follow-up studies should further dissect and investigate the drivers of the individual variations observed and try to identify the sensory cues used during homing.
许多动物在被转移到更远的地方后会回到它们的家园区域（即“归巢”）。这种迁移传统上被用于行为生态学中，以了解动物的定向和迁移行为。然后可以通过标记和重新捕获动物或通过跟踪来跟踪运动，例如使用 GPS 系统。在较小的脊椎动物（如鸟类、两栖动物和老鼠）中进行了最详细的此类行为研究，而关于像红鹿这样的大型哺乳动物的信息则很少。我们在捷克共和国的两个地点进行了使用 GPS 辅助的红鹿迁移实验。个体被转移了大约 11 公里的距离，然后跟踪了它们的回家旅程。使用圆形统计来测试从释放点 100、500、1000 和 5000 米处的显著归巢方向。此外，我们应用 Lavielle 轨迹分割来识别归巢行为的不同阶段。在 35 次迁移中有 31 次成功归巢，中位数时间为 4.75 天（范围为 1.23-100 天）。动物在释放后立即且在接近家园时明显朝向家园；然而，它们在中间距离处没有表现出明显的定向。我们能够识别出三个归巢阶段，一个初始的“探索阶段”，接着是一个“归巢阶段”，有时该阶段之后是一个“到达阶段”。“归巢阶段”的特点是路径最直，移动速度最快。然而，迁移事件之间的差异相当大。我们展示了红鹿在迁移后的良好归巢能力。我们的结果表明，在释放点附近进行环境操纵（例如，阻碍感官线索的使用）实验是可行的。红鹿的归巢行为与其他物种相似，可能代表了动物的一般归巢行为模式。后续研究应进一步剖析和调查观察到的个体变异的驱动因素，并尝试识别在归巢过程中使用的感官线索。
