Effects of weather, season, and daylight on female wild boar movement

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.