4 - Space–time patterns of habitat use

Summary

Introduction

In this chapter I consider how megaherbivores go about securing their habitat requirements in time and space. What times of day or night are favored for feeding or other maintenance activities, how much time per day is spent foraging, and how does this vary through the seasonal cycle? What size area do animals cover in seeking their food or water needs, and how does this change seasonally?

Temporal patterning of activities

Animals engage in a number of daily activities. These include feeding, travelling between feeding areas and perhaps to and from water, resting, other maintenance behaviors such as drinking, wallowing and grooming, and various forms of social interaction. These need to be scheduled optimally within the diel (day-night cycle), while ensuring that an appropriate amount of time is allocated to each. The animals need to accommodate for variations in temperature, cloud cover, wind and precipitation. Superimposed on these variations is the progression of the seasons, involving changes in the day-night ratio, prevailing temperatures and rainfall, and associated changes in food availability and reproductive physiology.

In the following account I will make a distinction between feeding and foraging. The former is synonymous with eating, i.e. gathering, chewing and swallowing, while the latter also includes movements made while searching for food.

Elephants

African elephants devote roughly equal proportions of the day and night to foraging. They tend to show three peaks in activity, occurring during the early morning, the later part of the afternoon, and around midnight.