4.2 Article

Spatial ecology of a ubiquitous Australian anteater, the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)

期刊

JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY
卷 92, 期 1, 页码 101-110

出版社

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1644/09-MAMM-A-398.1

关键词

anteaters; home range; kernel; mating system; monotremes; myrmecophagy; short-beaked echidna; spatial ecology

类别

资金

  1. Australian Research Council
  2. University of Tasmania
  3. National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration
  4. Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment
  5. French Ministry of the Foreign Affairs

向作者/读者索取更多资源

The only specialized ant-eating mammal in Australia and New Guinea is the egg-laying short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), and this single species occurs throughout Australia in a wide range of habitats. Despite the diversity of habitats and density and distribution of prey species, home-range sizes throughout Australia seem remarkably similar. We radiotracked echidnas in a population in Tasmania over a 13-year period and calculated home-range sizes using the fixed kernel method and the minimum convex polygon method. No relationship was found between body mass and home-range size, and mean annual home-range size of males (90% kernels) was 107 ha +/- 48 SD, twice that of females (48 +/- 28 ha). Male home ranges overlapped considerably and also overlapped with those of several females. The echidna follows the pattern seen in many solitary eutherian mammals: both sexes are promiscuous, and males have larger home ranges than females. Echidnas show a high degree of home-range fidelity but can make rare excursions out of their normal area. Hibernating echidnas move between shelters during their periodic arousals, resulting in home-range sizes similar to those of the active period. Consistent with their very low metabolic rate, echidnas have home-range sizes considerably smaller than predicted for carnivorous or omnivorous mammals. Examination of data from other ant-eating mammals shows that as a group anteaters not only have smaller than predicted home ranges but they depart significantly from the normal relationship between home-range size and body mass.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.2
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据