Abstract
There have been a few studies on home ranges of masked palm civets (Paguma larvata), which are believed to be an introduced species in Japan. Since it has been reported that captive masked palm civets hibernate slightly during winter in China, their home-range size and activity would be expected to be lower in winter. In this study, because a significant decrease in the home-range size of a wild individual of this species during winter was observed, we report on the result. We radio-tracked one male masked palm civet from July 2007 to June 2008 in a high-altitude area of Japan. The home-range sizes were approximately 1,830ha in summer and autumn, 5ha in winter, and 479ha in spring. The daily and mean hourly movement distances in winter were lower compared to the other periods, respectively. These results indicate lower activity of the individual in winter. Because of the low activity and small home-range size, trapping in winter when the hunting season is open by applying the same degree of effort as that applied during the other periods could lead to decreased capture efficiency. Therefore, in winter, sufficient trapping results would not be obtained unless greater efforts for trapping were made.
