Some aspects of raccoon dog’s (<i>Nyctereutes procyonoides</i> Gray, 1834) food behavior in depend on depth of snow cover on the floodplain territory of national park «Samarskaya Luka»

Abstract

The raccoon dog, which is inhabit the territory of national park Samarskaya Luka, considered an invasive species with the high ecological plasticity. It has been acclimatized successfully and still continues to expand its range. Taking into account this fact, it is particularly relevant to reveal some aspects of its behavior. The important point is the adaptation of the species in the conditions of anthropogenic press, which are observed in the national parks territory. The studies was carried out on the riparian territories of the national park Samarskaya Luka (village Mordovo and village Malaya Ryazan), because the raccoon dog tends to inhabit the floodplain areas, river banks, islands and channels, and avoid large open fields. The research object is the raccoon dogs population on riparian territories of the national park. The study was carried out by detailed winter footprints tracking method. The article presents data on the weather's severity conditions, Bodman index was calculated for the areas of tracking in the study period. The data compared detailed winter tracking in the snowy (2012) and snowless (2013) research period materials are presented. The obtained data illustrate differences in research, food and food searching behavioral activity of raccoon dogs males and females depending on the depth of the snow cover and weather conditions. The results are consistent with the literature data on the weather's severity in the Samara region and changes of canids behaviors in different seasons. The data obtained can be used by staff of specially protected natural areas, forestry and hunting organizations for introduced species population monitoring.