Assessments of seasonal and sexual differences in nest site selection by Pteromys volans in a small woodlot, Hokkaido, Japan
2014
Asari, Y. (Chodai Co., Ltd. (Japan)) | Yanagawa, H. | Ando, M.
We compared distances among used nests and available nests of seven Siberian flying squirrels (Pteromys volans) to understand their nest selection behavior in a small woodlot with limited nest resources. Distances of male and female did not significantly differ. This may be due to the fact that all the P. volans depended on nests only within the small woodlot and did not use any nests in nearby forests. Our results showed selectivity of nest sites in summer to autumn, because they used significantly short distance nests in snow-free season compared with available nests. Whereas, in snowy season, there was no significant difference between the mean distance among selected nest sites and that among available nest sites. It was suggested that the flying squirrel selects available nests nearby in the snow-free season, whereas in the snowy season they travel longer distances to use the rarer better nests in the small habitat. For conservation of the Siberian flying squirrel, multiple nests including the winter nest are necessary in a woodlot.
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