Watering Patterns of Some Desert Game Animals

Abstract

In recent years wildlife administrators in the arid southwest have expended much time and money in developing watering places on desert ranges that contain all of the essential habitat requirements for the production of game except for permanent and available water. Some developments are designed primarily for use by quail and other game birds (Glading, 1947). Access to water is restricted to small game by covered ramps and stockproof fences. Other developments are designed for multiple use by game mammals as well as birds (Halloran, 1949). From June 1951 to January 1953, I carried on a field study of several man-made, multiple-purpose, game-watering places with the following objectives: (1) to determine the species of desert wildlife utilizing man-made tanks, and to determine where possible which of those species are dependent on them to satisfy their water requirements; (2) to determine daily and seasonal utilization patterns by the different species; (3) to study behavior of different species at water; and (4) to evaluate waterhole counts as a census technique. I obtained utilization data on ten species of mammals and 25 species of birds. Because of space limitations, the present report will consider only the following important game species: mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), javelina (Pecari angulatus), white-winged dove (Zenaida asiatica),