Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

This paper presents analyses of habitat-use and home range size in the Blanford's fox. We predicted, from the resource dispersion hypothesis (RDH), that home ranges would encompass similar areas of combined fruitful habitats, but widely different areas of useless habitats, and thus that home ranges would be larger where such fruitful patches are fragmented and widely dispersed. Home range estimates of 0.5-2.0 km2 were calculated for 16 adult Blanford's foxes, using three different methods. There were no significant differences in home range size between sexes or study sites. One habitat, dry creekbed, was the most frequently visited in all home ranges. Dry creekbed provided abundant prey for the foxes and only sparse cover for their predators. Both the available area of creekbed in each range, and the area of creekbed patches that was used by the foxes, were independent of home range size. However, the variance in home range size was explained by the mean distance between the main denning area and the most frequently used patches of creekbed. These results are in accord with some predictions of the resource dispersion hypothesis. © 1992 Springer-Verlag.

Original publication

DOI

10.1007/BF00317244

Type

Journal article

Journal

Oecologia

Publication Date

01/08/1992

Volume

91

Pages

75 - 81