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The takin (Budorcas taxicolor) inhabits mountainous forests and exhibits seasonal migration along an altitudinal gradient. Its home range is largely unknown, yet this information is important to help guide the conservation of this threatened species. We conducted a global positioning system (GPS) radio-tracking study to determine the home ranges of 10 takins in the middle range of the Qinling Mountains, China, from August 2013 to August 2015. Their annual home ranges averaged 69.7 km 2 (range ¼ 21.3-188.5 km 2 ) using the 100% minimum convex polygon (MCP), and 25.3 km 2 (range ¼ 10.4-44.8 km 2 ) using a 95% kernel density estimate (KDE) revealing variation among individuals. Because takins are sexually dimorphic, we predicted that males would have larger home ranges than females. However, annual and seasonal home ranges of females were as large as, or larger than, those of males. These results are attributed to body size, sex, reproduction, and grouping behavior. Home range sizes of takins varied seasonally with the smallest range in winter (MCP ¼ F 3,44 ¼ 4.40, P ¼ 0.009; KDE ¼ F 3,44 ¼ 6.28, P ¼ 0.001); this variation was caused by their migratory behavior and the seasonal environment. For effective conservation of takins, managers of the Nature Reserves should unify management and conserve habitats used at all elevations. Ó 2017 The Wildlife Society KEY WORDS Budorcas taxicolor, conservation, home range, seasonality, sexual dimorphism.

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Many concepts concerning the quantification of program complexity have been developed during the last few years. One of the most accepted and easy-to-apply complexity measures, McCabe's cyclomatic number, has been discussed and improved in several studies. The cyclomatic number only considers the decision structure of a program. Therefore, this paper proposes a new method for calculating program complexity, the concept of postdomination. This takes into account the degree of nesting of a program. Combining this method and the cyclomatic number, a new complexity measure will be defined.

Context Understanding habitat use and selection by threatened ungulates is a crucial prerequisite to prioritise management areas and for developing effective conservation strategies. Aims The aim of our research was to determine the habitat use and selection of takins (Budorcas taxicolor) in the middle range of the Qinling Mountains, China. Methods The study was conducted from August 2013 to August 2015. Global positioning system (GPS) radio-tracking was used to monitor 10 collared takins to gain their location information. The Manly–Chesson selectivity index and Bonferroni-adjusted 95% confidence intervals were applied to determine which habitats were selected. Key results Habitat use and selection by takins showed obvious individual differences. At the landscape scale, all of the four most common habitat types were preferred by takins. However, all takins avoided artificially planted larch forest, and farmland and village. Available habitats within the home ranges also mostly included the four common habitat types. At the home-range scale, all individuals had significant habitat selectivity during the entire tracking period and each season. The habitat use and selection within the home range varied obviously with season and showed sexual differences to a certain extent. Conclusions The habitat selection by takins is scale-dependent. At the landscape scale, takins are most likely to occur at sites covered by forest. At both landscape and home-range scales, our results indicated that takins need more diverse forest habitats, but none of the four most common forest habitats is essential for survival of this species. Implications The present work has provided more insight into the habitat use and habitat selection of takins in mountainous forest landscapes. Many measures such as maintaining a diversity of forest habitats, avoiding habitat alteration by invasion of exotic plants, and increasing the area of available habitats by relocating the villages from within to outside of the reserve are recommended to conserve this large species.

Understanding locomotor activity patterns would reveal key information about an animal’s foraging strategy, energy budget and evolutionary adaptation. We studied the locomotor activity patterns of the takin ( Budorcas taxicolor ) in a temperate mountain region in China using GPS radio-collar technology from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015. Our research showed that takin had a bimodal crepuscular locomotor activity pattern, with an especially obvious movement peak at dusk. The takins showed significant seasonal differences in their movement rates, with the lowest movement rate in winter. The animals also showed sexual differences in their movement rates. In spring, the female movement rate was significantly higher than that of males during daytime, while during nighttime the movement rate of males was higher than that of females. The male movement rate was significantly higher than that of females in summer. The movement rate of the takins were correlated to microenvironment temperature and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in each season. These findings suggest that takin could adjust locomotor activity levels adapt to reproductive requirements, temperature variation and forage variability.

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