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Updated: Jun 27, 2026
08:28
Using Pharmacological Manipulation and High-precision Radio Telemetry to Study the Spatial Cognition in Free-ranging Animals
Published on: November 6, 2016
Multiple movement modes by large herbivores at multiple spatiotemporal scales
John M Fryxell1, Megan Hazell, Luca Börger
1Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1. jfryxell@uoguelph.ca
Summary
Elk exhibit complex, multiphasic movement patterns across various scales, switching between dispersive and home-ranging behaviors. These shifts are influenced by environment, internal state, and resource availability, fundamental to their ecology.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Animal Behavior
- Movement Ecology
Background:
- Theoretical frameworks propose animals facultatively switch movement modes based on internal state and environmental factors.
- Understanding these switches is crucial for predicting animal responses to habitat changes and resource availability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the generality of facultative movement mode switching in free-ranging elk (Cervus elaphus).
- To investigate elk movement patterns across five orders of magnitude in time and space.
Main Methods:
- Utilized tracking data of free-ranging elk across diverse temporal (minutes to years) and spatial (meters to 100 km) scales.
- Analyzed movement patterns to identify distinct phases (dispersive, home-ranging) and modes (encamped, exploratory, area-restricted search).
Main Results:
- Elk transitioned from a dispersive to a home-ranging phase over 1-3 years in novel environments.
- Movement patterns revealed alternation between modes like foraging and social bonding during dispersal, and habitat attraction/memory during home-ranging.
- Area-restricted search during browsing was interspersed with less sinuous paths, triggered by food plant encounters.
Conclusions:
- Elk movement exhibits a fundamental multiphasic structure across all tested temporal and spatial scales.
- Movement mode switching is a complex function of internal state, landscape, and resource availability in elk.
- Findings support the paradigm of facultative movement mode switching in a large herbivore.
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