Home range and use of residential gardens by yellow mongoose Cynictis penicillata in an urban environment

Abstract

Urban areas provide small carnivores with an abundance of resources and reduced predation risk, resulting in higher population densities. Urban animals tend to have greatly reduced home range sizes in response to increased resource availability. We investigated the home range size of yellow mongooses Cynictis penicillata in an urban area and determined whether their home ranges overlapped with human residential areas. We studied the home range sizes of 8 collared and GPS tracked individuals in the Meyersdal Nature Area in South Africa; an area divided into two residential wildlife estates (4 individuals per estate): an Eco-Estate that was a built up residential area interspersed with natural areas; and a Nature Estate with reduced contact between animals and human residential areas. We used three methods to calculate home range size, namely Minimum Convex Polygon, Kernel Density Estimates and Local Convex Hull. Home range size was slightly larger in the Nature Estate, and male home ranges were larger than those of females. Compared to previous studies, home range sizes were considerably smaller in our study. Seasonal variation in home range could not be statistically compared, but, similar to non-urban populations, we observed smaller home range sizes during the breeding season (winter and spring) and larger sizes during the non-breeding season (autumn and summer). The overlap of home ranges with residential areas, and the record of multiple GPS fixes of tracked individuals within human residential gardens, was evident in both estates but to a greater extent in the Eco-Estate. Seasonal overlap with residential areas was greatest during autumn and winter. We showed that yellow mongooses modify their home ranges in response to urbanisation, which might be a consequence of abundant and easily accessible available resources, particularly during colder periods.