Registration of moose lithophagy by means of photo traps was carried out on six salt lick in the protected territories of Southern and Central Yakutia. The duration of moose lithophagy is up to 132 minutes, with an average of 9-12 minutes. Females salted longer than males. In Southern Yakutia, half of the visits to lick occur at the darkest time of the day from 24 am to 4 am (50.5%), and in Central Yakutia from 20 am to 24 pm (42.5%). The lowest attendance of lick was observed in both cases during daylight hours from 8 am to 20 pm (5.6% and 8.6%). In both parts of the range, females are more likely than males to visit lick at dawn from 4 am to 8 am. The highest activity of salting in both areas is observed in June: in Southern Yakutia – 5.7 moose per day, in Central Yakutia – 2.1 moose per day. This circumstance is explained by the period of calving in females and the development of horns in males. For the entire observation period, the average number of visits per day by animals was: in Southern Yakutia – 3.7 (in the period from May to July), in Central Yakutia – 1.0 (in the period from June to August). In southern Yakutia, there is a sharp increase in male visits to lick in the month of June, which falls sharply in July. In Central Yakutia, this is not observed. The sex ratio of individuals who visited salt lick was: in Central Yakutia, males – 60.9%, females – 39.1%; in Southern Yakutia, males – 45.7%, females – 54.3%. The percentage of calves was: in Southern Yakutia – 10.2%, in Central Yakutia – 30.3%. In Southern Yakutia, females with moose calves accounted for 3.4% of all visits, and in Central Yakutia – 11.2%.
Keywords: moose, salt lick attendance, duration of salt licking, lithophage time distribution
Article published in number 2 for 2022 DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2022-2-138-144
ISSN 1995-4301
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