Food availability is one of the most important determinants of successful reproduction in birds. In a previous study, it was shown that Florida scrub-jays Aphelocoma coerulescens maintained a third egg mass when supplemented with a high fat and high protein diet during pre-breeding, as opposed to birds that were not supplemented that laid third eggs markedly lighter in mass than first- and second-laid eggs. Increases in egg quality promote chick growth and survival in many avian species. In this study, scrub-jays were provided with supplements throughout the pre-laying and nestling periods of 2001 and 2002 to investigate whether diet quality influenced growth and survival of chicks. Fledging success and survival to independence of unsupplemented chicks were higher for 2002 compared with 2001 indicating that breeding conditions (e.g. natural food availability) for jays were probably improved in the former year. Consistent growth patterns were found during the first 11 days post-hatch between chicks on supplemented and those on unsupplemented territories. Of the three growth measures, only seventh primary feather growth tended to be greater for third-hatched chicks on supplemented territories compared with third-hatched chicks on control territories. Food supplementation influenced survival of chicks. Compared with chicks hatching on unsupplemented territories, fledging success of chicks hatching from second-laid eggs was significantly greater in 2001, but not in 2002. Chicks from third-laid eggs on supplemented territories also tended to survive better in 2001 compared with chicks from unsupplemented territories, but, again, no such effect was found in 2002. We conclude that food supplementation in the pre-laying and nestling periods results in little measurable improvement in chick growth. However, improvements were found in survival of chicks that may be mediated through improvements in egg quality, but also may be the result of changes in foraging strategies of provisioning birds on supplemented territories. Chicks on supplemented territories might be in better body condition than those on unsupplemented ones. Methods other than morphometrics may be required to detect elevations in body condition of chicks raised on supplemented territories.

The partial mitochondrial 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA gene sequences (440 bp and 590 bp or so, respectively were determined of the Przewalski's gazelle Procapra przewalskii, Mongolian gazelle P. gutturosa, Tibetan gazelle P. picticaudata, goitered gazelle Gazella gutturosa, saiga Saiga tatarica, Tibetan antelope Pantholops hodgsoni, and thar Hemitragus jemlahicus. The average sequence divergence for all the species studied when both rRNA genes were combined was 8.4% (±0.7%), and the divergence values ranged from 0.5% to 13.3%. The average sequence divergence values for 16S rRNA gene and for 12S rRNA gene were 9.9% (±1.1%) and 6.3% (±1.1%), respectively. The sequence divergences among species of Procapra for 16S rRNA gene and for 12S rRNA gene were 1.4%(±0.5%) and 1.1% (±0.6%), respectively. Our phylogenetic analysis revealed the monophyly of the genus Procapra and that Przewalski's gazelle is more closely related to the Mongolian gazelle than to the Tibetan gazelle. We also found that the genus Procapra is closely related to Antilopini. We argued that the critically endangered Przewalski's gazelle should be treated as a species, not a subspecies of the Tibetan gazelle, which clearly warrants more attention from conservationists.

The presence of maggots of the fly Beckeriellaniger (Ephydridae) in nests of six syntopic South American leptodactyline frogs is reported. The number of tadpoles of Physalaemus cuvieri leaving infested and non-infested nests were compared, and behavioural plasticity at the time of nest departure in the presence and absence of maggots was tested for. Maggots were found in nests of all species with exposed foam nests (four Physalaemus and two Leptodactylus species). The maggots remained in the nests of P. cuvieri for up to 3 days; adults emerged from pupae after 7 days. While in the nests the maggots consumed eggs, embryos, and tadpoles. The levels of infestation increased from the beginning to the middle of the rainy season. Mortality caused by the maggots represented an important source of mortality (mean 74%) of eggs and embryos of P. cuvieri, and probably, of the other species. The time of emergence from nests by the tadpoles of P. cuvieri was shorter (up to 21 h earlier) in infested nests. The tadpoles that left the infested nests were at the same, or a less-developed stage than tadpoles in non-infested nests. The variation in the degree of infestation, with lower values at the beginning and the increase to the middle of the rainy season, suggests that the flies may be an obligatory predator on foam nests. For tadpoles of P. cuvieri, entering the water at a later developmental stage may be important to avoid aquatic predators. Conversely, leaving infested nests at the earliest possible stage may represent a strategy to avoid maggot predation. The longer time before emergence of tadpoles of P. cuvieri from non-infested nests corroborates the hypothesis that, among leptodactyline frogs, the foam nest is a predator avoidance adaptation in the aquatic media.

The diet of Myotis ricketti was examined by faecal analysis, and foraging behaviour was observed in the field. Scales from at least three species of small fish were found in the droppings, together with fragments of insects from six orders. This study demonstrates that M. ricketti is a fish-eating bat. As with other trawling bats in the genus Myotis, M. ricketti emits short, broadband echolocation sounds. The sounds recorded from bats released from the hand swept downward from c. 70 to 28 kHz in 4 ms, and contained most energy at 41 kHz.

A typical feature in members of the mustelid family is sexual size dimorphism, related to the different reproductive strategies of the sexes. As a consequence sexual divergence in many ecological and behavioural traits is expected, including temporal strategies. In line with this prediction, sex differences in the diel activity pattern of the European polecat Mustela putorius, a dimorphic mustelid, were quantified and tested. Twenty-eight polecats were captured in a rural area of central Italy (Abruzzo region) and 10 males and six females were monitored in the field using radio-telemetry techniques for 81–621 days each. Males and females showed a pronounced dimorphism in size (males/females mass ratio=1.6) within the known range for the species. Multivariate analysis of diel time preference shows that temporal behaviour differed significantly and markedly between the sexes. Males exhibited a regular and constant nocturnal pattern in every season, preferring the time ranging from 20:00 to 06:00; activity was lower at dawn and dusk, and scarce during daylight hours. Females were significantly diurnal and crepuscular but individuals revealed flexibility in activity pattern, including polyphasic or arrhythmic patterns without apparent temporal organization. The constraints of small body size and reproduction on female activity, and the sex segregation in activity timing are discussed in the context of intrasexual territoriality.

Several species of vespertilionid bat gather at underground sites in temperate zones during late summer and early autumn for an activity called swarming. Up to many hundreds of bats may arrive and depart during a night. Bat activity was recorded automatically with a frequency division logging system at a swarming site in south-east England for 415 nights between 1997 and 2001. In all 5 years, activity was highest between the beginning of August and the end of October (the swarming period), with a peak in September. Activity varied markedly from night to night and was affected by rainfall (which significantly suppressed swarming activity), and residual maximum ambient temperature (with which activity was positively correlated). Moon phase had no detectable influence on swarming activity. Activity was low in the first few hours after sunset of each night during the swarming period indicating that few bats emerged and that there was low daytime occupancy of the site. Activity increased to a peak between 6 and 7 h post-sunset consistent with a large number of bats arriving after the first evening foraging bout. Activity then decreased gradually up to dawn as these bats departed again. Logged activity was positively correlated with the number of bats caught by harp-trap, confirming that loggers are a reliable alternative to catching when monitoring a swarming site.

The first population recapture study of indigenous coypus Myocastor coypus is reported in protected areas of Argentine pampas within a region where the species is hunted for food and fur. Quarterly live trapping at two sites captured a high proportion of all coypus present (96% of juveniles; 85% of adults, independently of season, site and sex). Survival (from mortality or emigration) was constant across sites and seasons, and higher for juvenile males than females (88% and 71%, respectively) and lower for adult males than females (45% and 81%). Most turn-over in numbers was replaced by births, and immigrating males tended to be the largest individuals present. Sex ratios were male-biased amongst juveniles and female-biased amongst adults. Taken together, these results are consistent with local resource competition in habitat rendered low in quality by crowding inside the locally protected areas. The indigenous coypu population matured more slowly, and to a smaller maximum body size, than coypus studied in introduced populations in North America and particularly in northern Europe. Cold European winters may have contributed to the evolution of precocious sexual maturity and larger body sizes in European compared with indigenous populations.

Movement pattern of the Iriomote cat Prionailurus bengalensis iriomotensis was studied on Iriomote Island, Japan by radio-tracking. The influence of sex and reproductive status of cats on their daily movement distance (DMD), straight-line distance (SLD), daily movement range (DMR) and other relative indices of movements was estimated. DMD was longest in males (3.2 km) and shortest in females without kittens (1.9 km). Also, males moved faster than either females with or without kittens (0.34, 0.25 and 0.25 km/h, respectively). During the mating season, males moved faster and their DMRs were larger than during the rest of the year. The SLD/DMD ratio in males was similarly high in both seasons (0.29 and 0.33), which indicates that their daily routes were expanded over large areas year-round, possibly to maintain a continuous control over their home range. In contrast, SLD/DMD varied seasonally in breeding females. It was low (0.09) during the lactating period, when females returned repeatedly to the den with kittens and it became high (0.32) out of the breeding season. Breeding females moved equally long DMDs in both seasons, whereas non-breeding ones moved shorter distances during the breeding period. These differences may be related to seasonal changes of food abundance. Cats moved intensively, as indicated by long (812–1139 m) routes per km2 of their home range, and occasionally visited distant parts of their ranges in a short time (4–5 days). On the other hand, they showed a relatively slow increase of the patrolled area, from 10% to 36% of their home ranges, in the first and fifth day, respectively. Movement pattern of Iriomote cats showed no clear relation to active defence of home ranges.

Ecological densities of large herbivores were estimated using the line transect method in the tropical moist forests of Bhadra Tiger Reserve, southern India, during November 2000. The species of interest were chital Axis axis, sambar Cervus unicolor, muntjac Muntiacus muntjak, gaur Bos gaurus and Hanuman langur Presbytes entellus. Six permanent transects, ranging from 2.6 to 3.6 km (totalling 18.2 km) were each walked 26 times. A total of 473 km were walked during the surveys. Numbers of detections were generally low (51, 25, 68, 17 and 302 for chital, sambar, muntjac, gaur and langur, respectively). Mean estimated densities of different species were [${\smash{\raise6pt\hbox{\gary}}{\hspace*{-6pt}{D}}}$ (${\pm}\,$SE)]: 4.51 (${\pm}\,$1.05) chital km−2, 0.89 (${\pm}\,$0.23) sambar km−2, 3.64 (${\pm}\,$0.63) muntjac km−2, 1.48 (${\pm}\,$0.63) gaur km−2 and 22.62 (${\pm}\,$2.64) langur km−2. Possible shortcomings of our estimates are considered and suggestions made for improving future surveys. A comparison with densities estimated for these species in other well-protected parks showed that the chital, gaur and sambar densities in Bhadra were extremely low. The main causal factors for these low densities seem to be poaching and livestock grazing.

Eight aardvarks Orycteropus afer were fitted with radio-transmitters at Tussen die Riviere Nature Reserve between June 1996 and December 1997. Two became habituated and could be approached to a distance of 1 m. Activity patterns, home ranges and burrow use were investigated using telemetry and direct observations. In winter, aardvarks emerged above ground earlier, returned to burrows earlier and were active for shorter periods than in summer. They were nocturnal except occasionally in winter when some individuals foraged above ground before sunset. Home ranges varied between 133 ha and 302 ha and range overlap occurred within and between both sexes. Densities were c. eight animals per 1000 ha. Aardvarks used steep slopes (>15°) less than would have been expected according to availability. Average lengths of consecutive burrow use for three aardvarks were 4.9, 6.9 and 8.6 days, with some burrows being abandoned after only 1 day and one burrow being used for 38 days.

The knowledge of the ability of a species to adapt to a human-altered environment is important for developing wildlife management plans and, in turn, for conservation of the species. Radio-tracking was used to examine the effects of partial food or cover removal (owing to agricultural changes) on the spacing patterns and habitat use of adult roe deer Capreolus capreolus in a mixed wood/agricultural Mediterranean area, during spring–summer 1996–97. For both sexes, there were no changes in home-range and core-area sizes, or in inter-fix distances, after food (field ploughing) or cover (crop harvesting) removal. After food removal, both sexes shifted their home ranges and core areas, spending more time in woodland and less time in the ploughed field. This suggests a change in feeding habits. In addition, similar responses by males and females indicate that their energetic requirements are comparable during the territorial/reproductive period. After removal of cover, males neither shifted their home ranges and core areas, nor changed their habitat use, whereas females responded with significant shifts (by c. 90%) of the core area, and a significant decrease in the proportion of daytime spent in the harvested field. Thus, crop harvesting in this period (May/June) has different effects on the two sexes, with adult females being much less tolerant than males. Differential responses to cover removal were related to the different security requirements of the two sexes around the period of parturition.

The factors that affect the selection of feeding sites by giant pandas Ailuropoda melanoleuca in the Longxi-Hongkou Nature Reserve were explored in winter from 2000 to 2002, by using strip transects. It was reported in the literature that giant pandas prefer to forage on the edges of bamboo patches because these edges offer them more food than the interiors. The number of feeding sites and the corresponding vegetation indices (including the basal diameter of bamboo stem, height and density of bamboo or bamboo shoot; density and canopy density of trees) were compared close to and far away from the edges of bamboo patches to detect the patterns of feeding habitat selection by giant pandas. Giant pandas preferred to forage at the sites near edges rather than in the interiors of bamboo patches. Such a tendency was independent of bamboo species and individual pandas. By comparing the density, basal diameter of bamboo stem and shoot, tree density and available dry biomass of bamboo, we detected no significant differences between the edges and the interiors of bamboo patches. The possible explanations were analysed and it was deemed that the selection of food habitat near edges by the giant pandas could be attributed to the direct effects of edges, which facilitate movement of the giant pandas in the otherwise dense bamboo patches.

Subterranean mammals inhabit an environment that is normally devoid of light and are therefore deprived of photoperiodic information that can be used to time important life-history events. An assessment was made of whether melatonin secretion in a strictly subterranean rodent, the Damaraland mole-rat Cryptomys damarensis, can be modified by photoperiod. In experiment 1, a clear diurnal rhythm of melatonin secretion in animals housed under a neutral photoperiod (12L:12D) was observed, with significantly higher melatonin concentrations in the dark compared to the light phase. The same diurnal melatonin rhythm was found 1 day after animals were transferred to either continuous light or continuous dark, suggesting that a circadian rhythm was maintained under acute exposure to light and dark. In experiment 2, melatonin secretion was monitored in a long (14L:10D) and short day (10L:14D) photoperiod and was found to be modified by the photoperiodic change. We therefore suggest that the Damaraland mole-rat possesses a circadian melatonin rhythm that can be physiologically modulated in response to photoperiod.

The amphipod Gammarus pulex is an intermediate host to the acanthocephalan fish parasite Echinorhynchus truttae. Gammarus pulex has a wide trophic repertoire, feeding as a herbivore, detritivore and predator. In this study an examination was made of the effects of E. truttae parasitism on components of the G. pulex diet: stream-conditioned leaves, dead chironomids and live juvenile isopods Asellus aquaticus. Over 21 days, parasitism had no effect on daily feeding rates or wet weights of G. pulex fed on leaves or chironomids. Parasitism had a significant effect on the number of A. aquaticus killed by G. pulex, with parasitized individuals killing significantly fewer than their unparasitized counterparts. In addition, unparasitized amphipods killed all size classes of A. aquaticus indiscriminately, whereas parasitized animals tended to kill the smaller size classes. The impacts of the parasitism of G. pulex throughout the wider freshwater community are discussed.