Social Gathering Places Research Articles

Urban landscape pattern mainly drives the early epidemic distribution of dengue fever in Hangzhou, China

ContextA new dengue fever (DF) epidemic in Hangzhou, China has placed a serious burden on the urban sustainable development. However, the key drivers of DF epidemic are still unclear, especially the effects of urban landscape patterns.ObjectivesIn the present study, the spatial relationships between DF epidemic and urban landscape attributes in Hangzhou were investigated based on the framework and approach of landscape epidemiology.MethodsThe landscape indices of green space, waterbody, and built-up area were calculated based on land cover and land use (LULC) data. Population density, road density, GDP, and property price were used to represent socioeconomic conditions. The densities of social gathering places (SGPs) such as restaurants, malls, services, entertainment, traditional markets, and parks were recorded. A geographically weighted zero-inflated poisson regression (GWZIPR) model was applied to analyze the effects of LULC patterns, socioeconomic conditions, and SGPs on the risk of DF epidemics. An additional ZIPR-LASSO algorithm was used to explore the dominant drivers of spatial patterns of DF risk to construct the optimal model.ResultsDF cases were mainly clustered in central Hangzhou. Landscape patterns involving LULC and SGPs played a more important role in DF epidemic than the socioeconomic conditions. Among these factors, the total area of built-up area had the greatest effect to DF risk. Furthermore, property price, density of entertainment and services could better explain the spatial variation of DF risk in Hangzhou.ConclusionsOverall, the contribution of landscape patterns to the DF epidemic was more important than socioeconomic conditions within the urban region, especially in the new epidemic region. These findings revealed the key role of landscape epidemiology in public health management and landscape governance to improve the urban sustainable development and human well-being.

Developing Resilient Community Spaces in Healthcare Facilities: An Exploratory Study of a Public Health Crisis.

This exploratory study aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the design of healthcare facilities, particularly those featuring communal spaces. It sought to identify strategies that were implemented, learned, or recognized when adapting to the limitations imposed by protective measures during the pandemic. Third places are social gathering places outside of home and work. Over time, these community-centric places evolved from free-standing getaways to more integrated niches in diverse contexts including healthcare. Their numerous advantages for users include enhancing community bonds and collaboration among healthcare workers. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a need to rethink the design of such spaces to make them more adaptable and resilient. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted through in-depth semi-structured interviews with sixteen practitioners involved in healthcare architecture and design projects during the pandemic. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Findings indicate that the design of shared spaces in healthcare facilities for pandemic-like situations requires a special focus on modifiability and multifunctionality, achievable through strategies such as the use of movable, unconnected, and rearrangeable furniture or partitions that could swiftly change the function of a space. Other strategies include the capacity for compartmentalization of spaces, fostering indoor-outdoor connections, integrating advanced technology, and implementing effective infection control measures. Detailed emergent themes and examples of experienced constraints are discussed. Insights gained from our findings can be applied to new and ongoing healthcare design projects to ensure resiliency during normal and pandemic conditions.

Reframing Third Places: Environmental Changes of Merging Places During COVID-19.

The ubiquitous nature of technology is changing the way humans interact with interior space and redefining the third place, venues where individuals gather for socialization. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the fusion of physical and virtual space led to an overlapping of the first place (home) that served as the physical host for the virtual second (work), and third (social gathering) places. Most critically, the first place (home) became a proxy for second and third place experiences as we started connecting with the outside world, albeit virtually. The goal of this study was to determine the extent that individuals relied on technology to meet their socializing needs in response to COVID-19, verify if individuals are altering their environment as a result of the pandemic and whether these changes align with physical third-place characteristics, and inform interior designers on how to intentionally design physical space in ways that include virtual experiences. The researchers employed a mixed-methods approach by gathering data from an online survey, incorporating closed-ended and open-ended questions, using two different convenience sampling approaches (N = 229), and asking participants to submit photos to support their responses. Results illustrated that during the pandemic, virtual environments integrated with the home and became a substitute for physical third places. Four themes identified the modifications in physical space that occurred because of COVID-19 as individuals accommodated the merging of their home, work, school, and social places. Insights regarding the design of successful physical spaces that embrace virtual experiences are provided.

Impacts of Societal Broadcasting on Student’s Educational Prominence

Pakistan is third among all major nations in terms of the number of internet users, according to societal and mobile spectators. Social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and others in Pakistan distract students from their studies. Students utilize social media more frequently than personal email. Even so, safety and privacy are compromised. It offers chances to get in touch with friends, classmates, and individuals who share interests. Today's students should priorities their education and future careers. However, a lot of students rely on the information being available on various forms of community broadcasting. Report also highpoints how commonplace social gathering places are in many students. Social networking sites and societal media have altered the world and brought people closer together than beforehand. Apprentices may take benefit of this, though, and use it to improve their lives and tomorrow. It should be utilized to interconnect, keep in touch, while avoiding time wastage. 200 people made up the study's sample. To identify the many sociocultural media influences on students' education, a questionnaire was created. Gender, education, societal impact, and academic standing are the factors noted.

Impacts of Societal Broadcasting on Student’s Educational Prominence

Pakistan is third among all major nations in terms of the number of internet users, according to societal and mobile spectators. Social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and others in Pakistan distract students from their studies. Students utilize social media more frequently than personal email. Even so, safety and privacy are compromised. It offers chances to get in touch with friends, classmates, and individuals who share interests. Today's students should priorities their education and future careers. However, a lot of students rely on the information being available on various forms of community broadcasting. Report also highpoints how commonplace social gathering places are in many students. Social networking sites and societal media have altered the world and brought people closer together than beforehand. Apprentices may take benefit of this, though, and use it to improve their lives and tomorrow. It should be utilized to interconnect, keep in touch, while avoiding time wastage. 200 people made up the study's sample. To identify the many sociocultural media influences on students' education, a questionnaire was created. Gender, education, societal impact, and academic standing are the factors noted.

A COVID-19 mathematical model of at-risk populations with non-pharmaceutical preventive measures: The case of Brazil and South Africa.

This work examines a mathematical model of COVID-19 among two subgroups: low-risk and high-risk populations with two preventive measures; non-pharmaceutical interventions including wearing masks, maintaining social distance, and washing hands regularly by the low-risk group. In addition to the interventions mentioned above, high-risk individuals must take extra precaution measures, including telework, avoiding social gathering or public places, etc. to reduce the transmission. Those with underlying chronic diseases and the elderly (ages 60 and above) were classified as high-risk individuals and the rest as low-risk individuals. The parameter values used in this study were estimated using the available data from the Johns Hopkins University on COVID-19 for Brazil and South Africa. We evaluated the effective reproduction number for the two countries and observed how the various parameters affected the effective reproduction number. We also performed numerical simulations and analysis of the model. Susceptible and infectious populations for both low-risk and high-risk individuals were studied in detail. Results were displayed in both graphical and table forms to show the dynamics of each country being studied. We observed that non-pharmaceutical interventions by high-risk individuals significantly reduce infections among only high-risk individuals. In contrast, non-pharmaceutical interventions by low-risk individuals have a significant reduction in infections in both subgroups. Therefore, low-risk individuals’ preventive actions have a considerable effect on reducing infections, even among high-risk individuals.

An Update of Third Place Theory

Responding to a perceived decline in social capital in America, sociologists Oldenburg and Brissett offer the third place as a solution. While traditionally defined as social gathering places in the physical environment, recent studies have demonstrated that virtual environments may also serve as third places. This study analyzes the social media website Facebook to identify current socializing patterns. The goals of the present study are twofold: 1) to examine the characteristics of third places in virtual contexts as evidenced in existing literature and 2) to identify new third place characteristics that illustrate the evolution of third place characteristics using Facebook as a model. Findings provide support for updating third place characteristics in order to encompass both virtual and physical environments. Results reinforce the idea that present-day socializing trends better represent a different paradigm than existing theories and provide definitions for new evolving third place characteristics.

Young Children\u2019s Nutrition During the\xa0COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown: A Comparative Study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries took precautionary steps to save their citizens by initiating a lockdown and stopping all social activities by closing schools, companies, entertainment places, markets, gardens, and other social gathering places. As children stayed at home with no physical activities, their weight may have increased. The purpose of this study was to examine the link between fast food, sugars, or soft drinks and the ongoing domestic lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. This phenomenon was studied in three different cities from three different countries (Saudi Arabia, Britain, and Turkey) from the perspective of children’s parents. The study sought to address three research questions regarding children’s well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown period. First, was children’s nutrition affected during this period? Second, did children's weight increase? Third, were there any statistically significant differences in children’s dietary patterns based on their gender and nationality? A questionnaire was administered to 330 parents of children aged four to seven years in the three targeted countries. The study found that most parents cared about their children's nutrition and prepared food at home (96.1%) during the lockdown. Sixty-three percent of parents indicated that children did not gain weight. Additionally, differences in children’s nutritional systems were found between Saudi and Turkish children; the nutritional system of the Turkish children was better than that of Saudi children during the lockdown. Additionally, there were statistically significant differences in children’s nutrition due to gender, with better nutrition for boys than for girls.

Basics of the South Sudanese Deaf Community and the Sign Language

Basics of the South Sudanese Deaf Community and the Sign Language Eyasu Hailu (bio) and Sophia Mohammed (bio) To date, there has not been any research conducted on the South Sudanese Deaf community and South Sudanese Sign Language (SSSL). This article presents an introductory note about both with information gained from personal observations of the authors and from online resources. It provides an insight for furthering extensive research on the newest nation's sign language and the Deaf community. The South Sudanese Deaf Community South Sudan is an East Central African nation (see figure 1) that seceded from North Sudan in 2011. According to the World Population Review, the population size of South Sudan is about 11.19 million. South Sudan is a newly established nation, and Christianity is the largest religion. There are about sixty-two ethnic groups. The official language of South Sudan is English. As per the database on www.peoplegroups.org, the Deaf South Sudanese population totals about 215,000, with the majority living in the rural area. Juba is the capital city, where there are a relatively greater number of Deaf people than in other cities. [End Page 245] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Map of South Sudan. Data about the Deaf community in South Sudan is mostly available within the "disability" category. According to the Coalition of Organization of Persons with Disabilities (2016), there are two Deaf associations in South Sudan: the Equatoria States Association of the Deaf and Dumb (ESADD) and the South Sudan National Association of the Deaf. The report mentions that the highest level of education attained by its members is a secondary school education. Few Deaf people are university graduates with the opportunity they gained from abroad, such as in Kenya, Uganda, and North Sudan, before independence. Those who got access to education secured professional jobs at government offices and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). However, most of the Deaf people in the capital are engaged in physical labor, trade, and other private businesses, such as car washing and hair braiding. Currently, the majority of South Sudanese Sign Language (SSSL) signers reside in the capital Juba, though their exact numbers are not known. One of the social gathering places is at the lone Deaf church [End Page 246] in the capital. The other meeting places for the Deaf community are in cafés along the shore of the White Nile. SSSL Signers Like most African sign languages, SSSL is an emerging sign language that is named after the formation of South Sudan in 2011. This probably labels it as the world's youngest sign language. Before 2011, it was called Sudanese Sign Language. The SSSL signers in Juba have frequent language contact with Kenyan and Ugandan signers. For crosscultural communication, they also use American Sign Language (ASL). ASL fingerspelling is used to teach and learn SSSL. This is reflected in the production of the national SSSL dictionary, published in 2016. Names of the months and days of the week show variations. Signers have said that some signs are from Kenya, some are from Uganda, and some others are from North Sudan. In fact, there are also indigenous signs observed in daily communications. More detailed analysis needs to be done to identify other areas of variations. As can be seen in the figures, the names of months and days of the week are entirely different in the two dictionaries. Examples are in figures 2 and 3, compared with their corresponding figures 4 and 5. Similarly, figures 6 and 7 are entirely different from their corresponding Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 2. monday (ESAD, 2010). [End Page 247] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 3. tuesday (ESAD, 2010). Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 4. monday (Light for the World, 2016). Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 5. tuesday (Light for the World, 2016). [End Page 248] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 6. january (ESAD, 2010). figures 8 and 9. Signers use them interchangeably, where the choice of the signs might be dependent on the sociopolitical and linguistic factors that exist in the entire nation. Sociopolitically, South...

Hierarchical Cooperative Discovery of Personal Places from Location Traces

It is becoming increasingly important to accurately detect a user's presence at certain locations during certain times of the day, e.g., to study the user's patterns with respect to mobility, behavior, or social interactions and to enable the delivery of targeted services. However, instead of geographic locations, it is often more important to determine a locale that is relevant to the user, e.g., the place of work, home, homes of family and friends, social gathering places, etc. These significant personal places can be determined through analysis, e.g., via segmentation of location traces into a discrete sequence of places. However, segmentation of traces with many gaps (e.g., due to loss of network connectivity or GPS signal) results in a large number of small segments, where many of these segments actually belong together. This work proposes a novel segmentation approach that opportunistically fills gaps in a user's location trace by borrowing location data from other co-located users utilizing the power of mobile crowd sensing and computing (MCSC) paradigm. Through our analysis of four separate large-scale crowd sensing study datasets, we show that our approach yields more and larger segments than the state-of-the-art, where each segment accurately represents the presence of a user at a significant personal place.

Mapping bald eagle activity shadows around communal roosts

ABSTRACTWe assessed diurnal activity patterns associated with communal roosts (n = 26) by tracking nonbreeding bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus; n = 58) within the upper Chesapeake Bay, USA, 2008–2013. We used daytime locations (n = 54,165) to map activity shadows (using home range analytics, 90% kernel) around communal roosts, to evaluate the spatial structure and to delineate diurnal activity centers. We overlaid a range (100–3,200 m) of buffers around the perimeter of each roost to estimate the benefits of management scenarios in extending protection to daytime activities. Activity shadows around roosts varied from 1.5 km2 to 116 km2 ( = 30.3 ± 5.48 [SE]), reflecting landscape context. Roosts with small (<10 km2) activity shadows tended to have simple shapes with roosts centrally located and positioned along primary shorelines. Roosts supporting large (>50 km2) activity shadows tended to have complex shapes with roosts not centrally located and set back from primary shorelines. Daytime locations were highly concentrated in areas near communal roosts (76% of locations within 2 km of roost perimeters). Diurnal activity centers (n = 38) included areas surrounding roosts and secondary activity centers that were primarily located along prominent shorelines. Communal roosts play a more significant and multi‐faceted role in the eagle life cycle than we previously understood. Many of the roosts positioned along the shoreline provided resting places during the night and day, served as social gathering places during the day, and functioned as feeding locations. Evaluation of management buffers supports current management guidelines that recommend the establishment of 800‐m buffers. Establishment of 800‐m buffers within the study area would enclose 54% of all daytime locations, 66.7% of the area enclosed within activity centers associated with roosts, and 12.1% of the area enclosed in secondary activity centers. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

Resilience in the social and physical realms: Lessons from the Gulf Coast

The mounting frequency and scale of natural disasters, increasing urbanization, a growing reliance on interdependent technologies and infrastructure, and inflated expectations of emergency response interventions are responsible for greater disaster vulnerability and demonstrate the need to establish more resilient communities ahead of a disaster. The decisions of the private sector are among the reasons for increased vulnerability, for example through unsustainable or unsound real estate development.One factor that is known to impact resilience is social capital, particularly as manifested in strong social networks. The built environment has been shown to influence social networks in multiple ways. Research has shown that walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods with a higher concentration of social gathering places and public space encourage the development of social capital and place attachment through an increase in social interaction. The built environment is a physical, social, and symbolic anchor for residents. Most importantly for resilience, it can be a support system for social networks. The private sector influences this relationship through real estate development decisions.This paper examines how characteristics of the built environment that influence social networks contributed to greater resilience to Hurricane Katrina along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Given that social networks increase community resilience to all types of disasters, that social networks are shown to be influenced by certain types of space, and that the built environment is a common intervention for urban planners, this paper explores the potential for creating cities that are more resilient by encouraging private development that fosters social networks.

CIUDAD, CUERPO Y VIDA COTIDIANA. MATERIALES TEÓRICOS DE UNA INVESTIGACIÓN EN LA CIUDAD DE LA PLATA

Este trabalho se enquadra no projeto de investgação “O campo das práticas corporais na cidade de La Plata” e propõe a composição de um texto descritivo dos termos cidade, corpo e vida cotidiana, desde uma perspectiva de construção teórica estabelecendo laços com materiais empíricos coletados no trabalho de campo, onde se revelaram lugares de reunião social que oferecem propostas corporais. Os termos estão relacionados entre si, são portas de acesso fundamentais para compreender os modos de construir a cidadania na cidade de La Plata, prestando atenção aos traços específicos de produção do fazer social que desdobram os sujeitos e suas tarefas, atividades e práticas corporais.

Transmission Elasticity in Communities Hyperendemic for Tuberculosis

Despite consistently meeting international performance targets for tuberculosis case detection and treatment success, areas where tuberculosis is hyperendemic fail to achieve the predicted epidemiological impact. In this article, we explore the anomalous relationship between defined performance targets and actual reduction in tuberculosis transmission. In areas where tuberculosis is endemic, poorly ventilated social gathering places such as shebeens (informal alcohol drinking places), minibus taxis, and clinic waiting rooms are all potential transmission hot spots. We modeled the transmission reduction achieved by removal of infectious persons in settings with different tuberculosis prevalence rates to demonstrate the concept of transmission elasticity. We then applied this concept to real-life data from a hyperendemic community in Cape Town, South Africa. In a hyperendemic area, reducing the number of infectious people by a given percentage results in a smaller percentage decrease in the annual risk of infection (ARI) compared with a nonendemic area; for example, removing 10% of infectious persons could result in as little as a 5% reduction in the ARI. With use of real-life data and removal of 60% of infectious individuals with tuberculosis, as would be achieved by meeting current performance targets of 70% case detection and 85% cure, the estimated ARI reduction is 50%. The relationship between the number of infectious people removed and the decrease in ARI is nonlinear. The concept of transmission elasticity has important implications for the formulation of universal performance targets, since hyperendemic areas would require more stringent targets to achieve comparable transmission reduction.

Social venues that protect against and promote HIV risk for young men in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Developing effective place-based health interventions requires understanding of the dynamic between place and health. The therapeutic landscape framework explains how place-based social processes and physical geography interact and influence health behavior. This study applied this framework to examine how venues, or social gathering places, influenced HIV risk behavior among young, urban men in Tanzania. Eighty-three public venues where men aged 15-19 met new sexual partners were identified by community informants in one city ward. The majority (86%) of the venues were called 'camps', social gathering places that had formal leaders and members. Observations were conducted at 23 camps and in-depth interviews were conducted with 36 camp members and 10 camp leaders in 15 purposively selected camps. Geographic and social features of camps were examined to understand their contributions to men's behaviors. Camps were characterized by a geographic space claimed by members, a unique name and a democratic system of leadership and governance. Members were mostly men and socialized daily at their camp. They reported strong social bonds and engaging in health-promoting activities such as playing sports and generating income. Members also engaged in HIV risk behaviors, such as meeting new sexual partners and having sex in or around the camp at night. Some members promoted concurrent sexual partnerships with their friends and resisted camp leaders' efforts to change their sexual risk behavior. We conclude that camps are strategic venues for HIV prevention programs for young Tanzanian men. They served as both protective and risk landscapes, illustrating three domains of the therapeutic landscape framework: the built environment; identities of landscape occupants; and sites for collective efficacy. The framework and data suggest HIV intervention components might augment the protective features of the camps, while changing environmental features to reduce risk.

Explaining Relationships Among Student Outcomes and the School's Physical Environment

This descriptive study investigated the possible effects of selected school design patterns on third-grade students' academic achievement. A reduced regression analysis revealed the effects of school design components (patterns) on ITBS achievement data, after including control variables, for a sample of third-grade students drawn from 24 elementary schools. The sample means on the ITBS per school represented approximately 1,916 third-grade students. The independent variable set for developing a possible explanation of student achievement was the school's physical environment, defined as four sets of design patterns: movement and circulation (e.g., adequate personal space and efficient movement patterns throughout the school), large group meeting places (e.g., social gathering places), day lighting and views (e.g., windows with natural light), and instructional neighborhoods (e.g., large and small group areas that accommodate wet and dry activities). Each of the four full regression models, which included subsets of the design elements, explained between 2% and 7% of additional variance in achievement when compared to the reduced model, which included a measure of school SES. Therefore, each of the four design variables was positively related to student achievement, even after controlling for school SES.

The Coffee Shop: Social and Physical factors Influencing Place Attachment

This study explored the characteristics that encourage gathering behavior and contribute to place attachment in selected coffee shops in the context of literature suggesting social gathering places contribute to social capital. These gathering places, with the potential to enhance community in this manner, have been called third places. The study was qualitative in nature and included the research techniques of visual documentation, observation and behavioral mapping, interview, and survey. A transactional approach to this study was chosen to better understand the meaning of the person–environment relationship. Each coffee shop was observed for twenty–five hours for a total of seventy–five hours. Eighteen interviews were conducted and surveys were collected from 94 patrons to reveal patron attitudes toward the physical and social aspects of the coffee shop as well as their feelings regarding the community in which they live. The key findings regarding the physical characteristics showed the top five design considerations included: cleanliness, appealing aroma, adequate lighting, comfortable furniture, and a view to the outside. A number of themes emerged related to people, their activities, and their feelings and attitudes regarding the coffee shop. Each coffee shop was found to have a unique social climate and culture related to sense of belonging, territoriality and ownership, productivity and personal growth, opportunity for socialization, support and networking, and sense of community. Regarding feelings of community, survey findings from coffee shops patrons showed a positive correlation between length of patronage and their sense of attachment to their community.

The Automobile Way of Life

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article LettersFull AccessThe Automobile Way of LifeRalph Slovenko, J.D., Ph.D.Ralph SlovenkoSearch for more papers by this author, J.D., Ph.D.Published Online:1 Mar 2005https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.56.3.356AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail To the Editor: The drawing on the December 2004 cover, "Christmas Shoppers: Madison Square" [see below], which depicts street life in the early years of the 20th century, brings back memories of the time when streets functioned not merely for transportation but as social, economic, and recreational gathering places. At one time, streets provided a rich communal setting, not arteries of traffic. The streets are now monopolized by the automobile, which has displaced children, pedestrians, bicycles, and streetcars—in brief, everything but other automobiles. In 1908 in the Yale Law Journal, H. B. Brown, a retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice, urged the courts not to disregard the rights of others in favor of the motorist. His plea went unheeded.To this day, psychiatrists devote little or no attention to the deleterious effect of the proliferation of automobiles. I do not recall even one session at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association addressing mental health and the automobile way of life.Dr. Slovenko is professor of law and psychiatry at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. . FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 56Issue 3 March 2005Pages 356-356 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 March 2005 Published in print 1 March 2005

Lay referral patterns involved in cardiac treatment decision making among middle-aged and older adults.

This study examined age and contextually related factors that are influential in lay referral patterns during cardiac treatment decision making. A complementary design was used. The Myocardial Infarction (MI) Onset Study identified demographic correlates of who sought medical care for 1,388 MI (heart attack) survivors. Thirty-five in-depth MI illness narratives explicated lay referral patterns. Data revealed a linear association between older age and reliance on another person to seek medical attention for cardiac symptoms, with gender also shaping lay referral patterns. Although spouses and children were the most frequently cited decision makers for older respondents, friends and other family members also influenced care-seeking decisions. Qualitative results substantiated and provided explanations for such patterns. Our results highlight the need for researchers to attend to the complex social processes of lay consultation and for health education messages to extend to venues where lay cardiac decisions are made, including the worksite and social gathering places such as religious institutions. Enhanced outreach includes tailoring health messages to elders and their significant others and casting a broader net to include nontraditional significant others.

The behavior of moose at natural mineral springs in Quebec

The Matane Wildlife Reserve (48°40′ N, 66°55′ W) is the only location in Quebec known to have mineral springs. Their water is rich in sodium (172.5 ± 97.1 ppm, n = 17 vs. 3.6 ± 2.6 ppm, n = 10, in streams flowing nearby) and other minerals. We observed moose (Alces alces) there for a total of 11 months over three summers. Maximal use of the springs occurred in early July. Moose visited springs mostly around sunrise and sunset, spending a mean (± SD) of 24.3 ± 26 min (n = 691) at the springs, 20.7% ± 17% of which was spent drinking, almost always right at the actual spring (about 0.1 m2). Calves started visiting springs in late June, always with their mothers, but rarely drank before September. Moose interacted aggressively, particularly to displace one another from the small springs. Lactating females chased all other moose away when they were accompanied by their calves. Such females spent much less time drinking when their calves were present than when they visited a spring alone. Moose usually urinated at a spring, but almost never on the actual spring itself, and most often close to the end of a visit. Of 360 urinations, 32.2% were hock urinations. Mineral springs seem to be important, although incidental, social gathering places, where the hunger for salt forces moose to have a more intense social life than their otherwise solitary habits allow.