| From July2011to November2013, time activity budgets, behavior rhythmsand activity patterns of Asiatic beaver (C. f. birulai) had been studied by themobile hard-disk recording systems and Infrared camera traps in Buergen BeaverNature Reserve of Xinjiang, China.The results showed that there are a certain differences between daytime activityrhythms of different seasons. In spring, foraging kept a high level at night, withsmall trough only at18:00-19:00,1:00-2:00and6:00-7:00, while moving patternsappeared three small peaks in the times above, other activities（slapstick, smell,touch）had two small peaks at22:00-23:00and2:00-3:00, vigilance and groomingare always at low levels. In summer, moving pattern and foraging behavior wereboth at high levels, moving pattern is more active in18:00-19:00and6:00-7:00, andgrooming behavior had two apparent small peaks in23:00-0:00and5:00-6:00, theother activities had small peaks in0:00-1:00. In autumn, foraging occurs a smallvalley only in4:00-5:00, and moving patterns kept a small peak in4:00-5:00, whilegrooming was more frequent in18:00-19:00, other activities were less, and do notchanged significantly.According to the day activities time budgets, the C. f. birulai spent70.42%oftheir time on foraging,24.72%on moving,2.35%on grooming,1.17%on vigilanceand1.33%on other activities. Among different seasons, there were significantdifferences between moving, foraging (p＜0.05), grooming (p<0.01), other activities(p <0.01) of C. f. birulai.There were also differences between the nocturnal activity rhythms of C. f.birulai of different ages, the time of sub-adult spent on moving, grooming, vigilanceand other activities slightly higher than adult. The analysis on differences in behaviorof different age groups of C. f. birulai indicated that the age factors of C. f. birulaihad a signficant effect on foraging，and a highly significant effect on other activitiesof C. f. birulai. In spring, the moving (19.63%), vigilance (0.97) and other activities (1.75%) of adults were higher than sub-adults, and foraging (75.18%) and grooming(2.47%) were slightly lower than sub-adults. There was a significant differencebetween vigilance (p <0.01) of the adults and sub-adults, and the differencesbetween time of other activities is not significant. In summer, the foraging (71.7%)and vigilance (0.44%) of adults were slightly higher than sub-adults. moving(22.71%), grooming (3.22%) and other activities (1.93%) were lower than thesub-adults. There was not significant difference between activities of C. f. birulaiadults and sub-adults in summer. In autumn, the foraging (67.01%) of C. f. birulaiadults was significantly higher than sub-adults, and moving (30.31%), grooming(0.31%), vigilance (2.29%) and other activities (0.08%) were lower than sub-adults.There was significant difference (p <0.05) between foraging of adults and sub-adults,and highly significant difference between vigilance (p <0.01), and other activities (p<0.01).By analyzing the correlation of the C. f. birulai various activities, we found thatthere was a significant positive correlation between the moving and vigilance，while,there was significant negative correlation between foraging and moving, grooming,vigilance and other activities. There was a significant positive correlation betweenmoving and other activities, and a significant negative correlation between vigilancebehavior and other behaviors. There is no correlation between grooming and moving,vigilance as well as moving and other activities.From April to November2013, infrared cameras had been set in five C. f.birulai families in Buergen Beaver Nature Reserve of Xinjiang. Total of4911photosof C. f. birulai had been shot in the Buergen Beaver Nature Reserve of Xinjiangfrom April to June, and total of2348photos from September to November. Byanalyzing the day intensity differences index α, mean value0.98＞0.542（13/24）ofnocturnal index β, activity intensity index θ, and peak index γ, we found that C. f.birulai belongs to the nocturnal animals. Each month’s day intensity differencesindex α and nocturnal index β were accord with normal distributions(P＞0.05).There was significant difference between indexes α（P＜0.01）and indexes β（P＜ 0.01）of each month. Activity intensities of C. f. birulai increase gradually from thebeginning of April, and reach the maximum values when stored the winter food inautumn, and stop ashore activities at the end of November. The value of index γ washigh, which meant that C. f. birulai belongs the typical bimodal activity patterns. |
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