Ranging behaviour and habitat selection of Alpine chamois

Abstract

Ranging behaviour and habitat selection of 23 male and 6 female adult (5–10 years old) Alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra (Linnaeus 1758) were monitored from February 2000 to December 2002, in an area of the Western Alps. The chamois were radio-located for a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 35 months, until failure of radio transmitters. A mean number of 13 locations/individual/month was recorded for a total of 7902 fixes. Adult males were divided in 19 residents (territorial males, with overlapping or adjacent warm and cold month ranges) and four migrants (with non-overlapping warm and cold month ranges, as well as attending higher altitude areas in the warm months). Home range and core area (kernel 95 and 50%, respectively) sizes of each individual were significantly greater in the warm (June–November) than in the cold (December–May) periods. During the warm period, home range and core area sizes significantly differed between resident (median home range: 49 ha; Q1–Q3: 31–110 ha) and migrant males (median home range: 749 ha; Q1–Q3: 539–850 ha), as well as between females (median home range: 711 ha; Q1–Q3: 388–1842 ha) and resident males. No significant difference was observed in the cold period. Home range size was not correlated to the presence of snow cover (≥ 70%). Throughout the year, nearly all chamois used south- to south-east-facing slopes. Resident males strongly preferred pastures and meadows, but four of them used alder shrublands on the north-east slope more than expected, in the warm months. Females kept nearly always at altitudes greater than those used by resident males and inhabited higher-quality areas.