Very little is known about the spatio-temporal ecology of the rusty-spotted genet, Genetta maculata. With this study I aimed to describe the activity patterns, resting site use and spatial ecology of G. maculata in Telperion Nature Reserve. I particularly looked at the activity profile and the activity period. I wanted to determine the spatial distribution of resting sites, the number of sites used per individual as well as the index of resting site reuse. I also calculated the distance between resting sites on consecutive days and tested for differences between sexes and seasons. I determined the size of home ranges, as well as that of core areas and compared space use between sexes and seasons as well as vegetation types.
A total of six males and nine females were trapped, radio-collared and tracked during continuous night and daytime sessions between September 2015 and August 2016. Rusty-spotted genets were primarily nocturnal (nocturnality index: 0.84) and therefore made use of the darkness for cover when hunting. Overall, male effective activity duration (586 ± 172 min) was greater than for females (564 ± 175 min) possibly because they search for females to mate with as well as due to their larger body size. Seasonal changes in activity were evident – specifically in winter – and were probably a function of both food availability and temperature.
Areas with a denser vegetation structure seemed to be more suitable for rusty-spotted genet resting sites. Neither the number of resting sites nor the reuse rate of these resting sites differed between sexes or seasons. The inter-resting site distance on consecutive days was higher for males (938 ± 848 m) than females (707 ± 661 m). This was possibly caused by males travelling larger distances when searching for females to mate with. The inter-resting site distance was higher during autumn, likely due to the decrease in food availability, which made it necessary for genets to increase their hunting efforts. However, a similar increase in hunting effort was not evident during winter as genets decreased their overall activity, possibly in order to avoid colder temperatures.
No sexual or seasonal differences in home range size were found. This was attributed to a well-spread and consistent availability of food sources. Core areas only covered on average 7% of the total individual home range which further supports the hypothesis that food was readily available. Both intra- and intersexual home range overlaps were recorded. This was not unusual for carnivores and due to a combination of reproductive and social actions. Home ranges mainly included bushveld vegetation (78%) rather than grassland as these areas provided better cover and likely more abundant food sources.
As this was the first exhaustive study of its kind on this species over a full annual cycle, the information gathered is important for the development of conservation strategies for this species, but also for other Genetta species in the rest of Africa. / College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Science)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/24524 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Roux, Rouxlyn |
| Contributors | Do Linh San, Emmanuel, Strauss, W. Maartin |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (xiii, 131 leaves) : illustrations (chiefly color), graphs (chiefly color), color maps |
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