Nussberger, B. & Ingold, P.2006:Effectsofradio-collars on behaviour of alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra. - Wildl. Biol. 12: 339-343.
Wildlife research often uses radio-telemetry to track habitat use and movement of individual animals. This method may cause suffering or changes in the behaviour of radio-collared animals. The behavioural data collected may not be representative of the wild population, if the transmitter affects the behaviour of the animals. We therefore assessed the effect of radio-collars on some aspects of behaviour of alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra in the Swiss Alps. We also determined if collared animals were isolated from non-collared animals. We observed in 30-minute focal animal sampling periods the behaviour of nine female alpine chamois carrying a radio-collar for > 2 years and 40 non-collared females. Analysed behaviour included grazing (head down, head up), alert, scratching and licking. Furthermore, we compared distances between a non-collared female chamois and her collared and non-collared neighbours. Multivariate analysis revealed no significant difference in the behaviour of collared and non-collared chamois. For a non-collared chamois, there was no preference to be nearer to a no-collared than to a collared neighbour. We conclude that the tested radio-collars did not affect the behaviour of the chamois and that collared animals were not isolated from non-collared animals.
Key words: behaviour, effect, radio-collar, Rupicapra rupicapra, telemetry
Beatrice Nussberger* & Paul Ingold**, Arbeitsgruppe Ethologie und Naturschutz, Zoological Institute, University of Bern, Länggas.27, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland - e-mail addresses: nussberger@hintermannweber.ch (Beatrice Nussberger); paul.ingold@gmx.ch (Paul Ingold)
Present addresses:
*Hintermann & Weber AG, Marzilistr. 8a, CH-3005 Berne, Switzerland
**Färichweg 1, CH-3038 Kirchlindach, Switzerland
Corresponding author: Beatrice Nussberger
Received 5 January 2004, accepted 20 September 2005
Associate Editor: Jean-Michel Gaillard