Abstract
Animals often modify their behavior to reduce the effects of adverse weather conditions. By studying wild boar equipped with the Global Positioning System (GPS) collars, we explored the effects of weather conditions on movement and activity patterns across seasons. We found that the most prevailing strategy for wild boar exposed to stressful weather conditions is to reduce movement. Wild boar thus decreased movement at low temperatures and in precipitation during winter. We also found that wild boar increased movement in late summer, and with precipitation during late summer, despite higher food availability and facilitated foraging by the rain. We also confirm previous results that snow depth reduces movement of wild boar, likely by making movements more energetically costly.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies for the financial support and the thematic program for wildlife and forestry. To Earl Carl Piper for letting us conduct the study on his estates. To all fieldworkers and veterinarians involved in the project and Christina Prokopenko for her useful comments regarding the English grammar.
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Communicated by: Jan M. Wójcik
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Thurfjell, H., Spong, G. & Ericsson, G. Effects of weather, season, and daylight on female wild boar movement. Acta Theriol 59, 467–472 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-014-0185-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-014-0185-x