Influence of Gender and Den Type on Home Range Shape for Striped Skunks, Mephitis mephitis, in Saskatchewan

Authors

  • Serge Larivière Delta Waterfowl Foundation, R.R. 1, Box 1, Site 1, Portage La Prairie, Manitoba R1N 3A1
  • David Howerter Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research, Ducks Unlimited Canada, P.O. Box 1160, Stonewall, Manitoba R0C 2Z0
  • François Messier Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v121i3.473

Keywords:

Striped Skunk, Mephitis mephitis, home range, denning site, spatial distribution, Canadian prairies

Abstract

We investigated gender differences in shape of home ranges for Striped Skunks, Mephitis mephitis, in southcentral Saskatchewan, Canada, during 1993-1994. Data collected on free-ranging Striped Skunks indicated that shape of female home ranges was unaffected by den type (building versus burrow) and was similar to shape of male home ranges. Moreover, type of maternity den did not influence the position of the den within the home range (inside or outside of core area). We conclude that the distribution of Striped Skunks in summer, and the distribution of their foraging activity, are not affected by the availability of anthropogenic den structures.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 121 No. 3 (2007)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright for Canadian Field-Naturalist content is held by the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, except for content published by employees of federal government departments, in which case the copyright is held by the Crown. In-copyright content available at the Biodiversity Heritage Library is available for re-use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence. For usage of content at the BHL for purposes other than those allowed under this licence, contact us.

 

To request use of copyright material,  please contact our editor, Dr. Dwayne Lepitzki: editor -at- canadianfieldnaturalist -dot- ca