Observation on the daytime behaviour of Tibetan fox (Vulpes ferrilata) in Shiqu County, Sichuan Province, China

Daytime behaviour and activity rhythm of Tibetan fox were observed in Shiqu County, Sichuan Province, China, from July to October in 2003. While doing line transect, Tibetan foxes were observed 83 times totally by random sampling. Among these 83 times observed, 79 times were valid for statistics. Daytime was divided into 6 even groups (07: 00-09: 00, 09: 01-11:00, 11:01-13:00, 13:01-15. 00, 15: 01-17:00, 18:00-20:00), and daytime behaviour was defined as 3 patterns: running, hunting and resting. Behaviour in different patterns observed in every period was recorded. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to exam the difference of the accumulated observed individuals of each time group. Observed times in different behaviour patterns in each time group were also compared by Friedman ANOVA with Kandall's concordance. Results showed that the activity rhythm in daytime had no significant difference among different time groups (Kruskal-Wallis test: H(5, N= 131) = 5.081, P = 0.4060). By using behaviour pattern and time group as factors respectively, the 3 kinds of behaviour distributions had no significant difference during daytime (P < 0.580; P < 0.447). In addition, all the times observed were recorded in sunny days. The results implied that the reasons of activity in daytime in Tibetan fox cannot only be hunting, but also the demands of sunshine. Though behaviour and activity rhythm of Tibetan fox in daytime were studied in this paper, telemetry on the same topics should be introduced to compare with our results.