Home range size and its development for fallow deer in the Blue Mountains, New Zealand

Abstract

G. 1994. Home range size and its development for fallow deer in the Blue Mountains, New Zealand. Acta theriol. 39: 159-175.Fifty-nine fallow deer Dama dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758) fitted with radio collars were monitored in the Blue Mountains, Otago, New Zealand, between September 1985 and February 1988 to determine home range size and patterns of range development. Fallow deer occupy small annual ranges, averaging 66 ha for females and 189 ha for males (90% isopleths calculated by the Harmonic Mean method). For resident animals the respective values were 50 ha and 127 ha. Bimonthly seasonal range size varied with sex, age-class and season, with different seasonal patterns for males and females. Only one adult female dispersed, and most females occupied the same core range throughout the period they were monitored. Some subadult females did move into new areas, by a process of range extension rather than a single dispersive range shift. In contrast most males monitored for more than 6 months shifted their range, but the distances between successive seasonal range centres never exceeded 2.6 km and could not be reliably distinguished from adult seasonal movements. The range stability and slow dispersal rates of fallow deer should make them easier to control than the other common introduced deer species in New Zealand, and should make it practical to have different management objectives and regimes for adjacent catchments in the Blue Mountains.Manaaki Whenua -Landcare Research,

Home range patterns of male fallow deerDama dama in a sub-Mediterranean habitat

“…Seasonal analysis revealed small home range outside the rutting period comparable to those reported by Nugent (1994) in the Blue Mountains (New Zealand). Interestingly thirteen female fallow deer monitored at the same time of the present study showed, in spite of a smaller body size, larger annual and seasonal home ranges than males outside the rutting period (Ciuti et al 2003).…”

“…Nugent (1994) reported a mean annual home range, calculated by the 100% MCP method, of 309.5 ha for the male fallow deer of the Blue Mountains in New Zealand. Home range for male fallow deer in the New Forest, southern England, calculated over May-September, varied in size from 55 to 260 ha (MCP 100%), with a mean value of 107 ha (Rand in Putman 1986).…”

“…The spatial behaviour of mammals is influenced by several factors: metabolic needs, body mass, feeding habits, and mating system (McNab 1963, Harestad and Bunnell 1979, Cameron and Spencer 1985, Lindstedt et al 1986, Clutton-Brock 1989, Sandell and Liberg 1992. Despite its extensive geographical distribution, comparable to those of red deer Cervus elaphus and roe deer Capreolus capreolus, little work has been devoted to the ecology of fallow deer Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758) and only two publications have concentrated its spatial behaviour (Rand in Putman 1986, Nugent 1994). On the contrary, many papers have dealt with the use of space by the other two western European cervid species (red deer: Georgii 1980, Georgii and Schröder 1983, Catt and Staines 1987, Carranza et al 1991 …”

Advances in New Zealand mammalogy 1990–2000: Deer

“…In mixed forest in the Blue Mountains, annual home range sizes for female fallow varied from 0.3 km 2 to 5.3 km 2 , mostly <1.0km 2 (Nugent 1994). Annual range size of resident females averaged 0.8 km 2 , and few shifted during the year (5%); subadults had larger ranges than fawns or adults.…”

Home range and habitat selection of an insular fallow deer (Dama dama L.) population on Little St. Simons Island, Georgia, USA

“…Home range studies for fallow deer, as well as insular populations of white-tailed deer in the southeastern United States are lacking. However, home range size constructed using MCPs for both male and female LSSI fallow deer are larger than MCPs reported for fallow deer in Italy (Davini et al 2004), New Zealand (Nugent 1994), as well as estimated home range size from the New Forest of England (Rand in Putnam 1986).…”