Does the Wolf (Canis lupus) Exhibit Human Habituation Behaviours after Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild? A Case Report from Central Italy
SIMPLE SUMMARY: The rehabilitation of injured or sick wolves is a practice that is undertaken until it is clinically possible to release the animals back into the wild. However, the knowledge of how movement patterns and habitat selection are eventually affected by habituation to persons after a per...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:9774959 2023-05-15T15:51:13+02:00 Does the Wolf (Canis lupus) Exhibit Human Habituation Behaviours after Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild? A Case Report from Central Italy Viola, Paolo Girotti, Pedro Adriani, Settimio Ronchi, Bruno Zaccaroni, Marco Primi, Riccardo 2022-12-11 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9774959/ https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12243495 en eng MDPI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9774959/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12243495 © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY Animals (Basel) Case Report Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12243495 2022-12-25T02:12:52Z SIMPLE SUMMARY: The rehabilitation of injured or sick wolves is a practice that is undertaken until it is clinically possible to release the animals back into the wild. However, the knowledge of how movement patterns and habitat selection are eventually affected by habituation to persons after a period of veterinary isolation, treatment and non-agonistic experience with humans is scarce. We describe the behaviour of a radio-collared female wolf released into the wild after a rehabilitation period of 11 days. The wolf travelled about the same distances as wild conspecifics, showing movement patterns and circadian rhythms complementary to those adopted by humans. No signal of behavioural distortions due to human habituation were recorded. This case study aims to stimulate further research and a call for widespread data sharing at national and international scales. ABSTRACT: The knowledge of how wolves’ movement patterns and habitat selection are affected by habituation to persons after a period of veterinary isolation, treatment and non-agonistic experience with humans is scarce. Unnatural behaviours could be transferred by imitation to members of the pack and to subsequent generations, increasing direct interaction risks. We used GPS data from a rescued radio-collared female wolf after an 11-day rehabilitation to estimate home range, movement patterns, circadian rhythms, and habitat selection, searching for signals of eventual behavioural distortions. In the period 1 August–26 November 2013, 870 valid locations were acquired. The wolf moved within a minimum convex polygon (95%) of 6541.1 ha (79% wooded), avoiding anthropized areas. Nocturnal and diurnal displacements were significantly different (p < 0.01). Nocturnal displacements were 4409.4 ± 617.5 m during summer and 3684.8 ± 468.1 m during autumn, without differences between seasons. Diurnal movements were significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the summer (2239.0 ± 329.0 m) than in the autumn (595.9 ± 110.3 m), when the hunting season was running. As for a ... Text Canis lupus PubMed Central (PMC) Animals 12 24 3495 |
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Case Report |
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Case Report Viola, Paolo Girotti, Pedro Adriani, Settimio Ronchi, Bruno Zaccaroni, Marco Primi, Riccardo Does the Wolf (Canis lupus) Exhibit Human Habituation Behaviours after Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild? A Case Report from Central Italy |
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Case Report |
description |
SIMPLE SUMMARY: The rehabilitation of injured or sick wolves is a practice that is undertaken until it is clinically possible to release the animals back into the wild. However, the knowledge of how movement patterns and habitat selection are eventually affected by habituation to persons after a period of veterinary isolation, treatment and non-agonistic experience with humans is scarce. We describe the behaviour of a radio-collared female wolf released into the wild after a rehabilitation period of 11 days. The wolf travelled about the same distances as wild conspecifics, showing movement patterns and circadian rhythms complementary to those adopted by humans. No signal of behavioural distortions due to human habituation were recorded. This case study aims to stimulate further research and a call for widespread data sharing at national and international scales. ABSTRACT: The knowledge of how wolves’ movement patterns and habitat selection are affected by habituation to persons after a period of veterinary isolation, treatment and non-agonistic experience with humans is scarce. Unnatural behaviours could be transferred by imitation to members of the pack and to subsequent generations, increasing direct interaction risks. We used GPS data from a rescued radio-collared female wolf after an 11-day rehabilitation to estimate home range, movement patterns, circadian rhythms, and habitat selection, searching for signals of eventual behavioural distortions. In the period 1 August–26 November 2013, 870 valid locations were acquired. The wolf moved within a minimum convex polygon (95%) of 6541.1 ha (79% wooded), avoiding anthropized areas. Nocturnal and diurnal displacements were significantly different (p < 0.01). Nocturnal displacements were 4409.4 ± 617.5 m during summer and 3684.8 ± 468.1 m during autumn, without differences between seasons. Diurnal movements were significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the summer (2239.0 ± 329.0 m) than in the autumn (595.9 ± 110.3 m), when the hunting season was running. As for a ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Viola, Paolo Girotti, Pedro Adriani, Settimio Ronchi, Bruno Zaccaroni, Marco Primi, Riccardo |
author_facet |
Viola, Paolo Girotti, Pedro Adriani, Settimio Ronchi, Bruno Zaccaroni, Marco Primi, Riccardo |
author_sort |
Viola, Paolo |
title |
Does the Wolf (Canis lupus) Exhibit Human Habituation Behaviours after Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild? A Case Report from Central Italy |
title_short |
Does the Wolf (Canis lupus) Exhibit Human Habituation Behaviours after Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild? A Case Report from Central Italy |
title_full |
Does the Wolf (Canis lupus) Exhibit Human Habituation Behaviours after Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild? A Case Report from Central Italy |
title_fullStr |
Does the Wolf (Canis lupus) Exhibit Human Habituation Behaviours after Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild? A Case Report from Central Italy |
title_full_unstemmed |
Does the Wolf (Canis lupus) Exhibit Human Habituation Behaviours after Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild? A Case Report from Central Italy |
title_sort |
does the wolf (canis lupus) exhibit human habituation behaviours after rehabilitation and release into the wild? a case report from central italy |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9774959/ https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12243495 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Animals (Basel) |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9774959/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12243495 |
op_rights |
© 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12243495 |
container_title |
Animals |
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12 |
container_issue |
24 |
container_start_page |
3495 |
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1766386309034672128 |