抄録
According to the literature Tsaatan’s reindeer herding vanes seasonally. However, there are few articles referring in detail to seasonal change of control techniques and reindeer behavior in grazing. In this report, the author presents data for reindeer herding in Tsaatan’s summer pasture in northwestern part of Mongolia. Beside the summer campsite each reindeer is tied on a stake in the night. Does are milked 2-3 times in a day; at about 0500-0600 hours, 1400-1600 hours and 1900-2100 hours. Almost all reindeer except fawns are put out to pasture two by two. While reindeer are grazing, herders do not accompany to them. In case the herd is going to mingle with the other herd, herders will change the direction of their herd's movement. Although each reindeer can behave freely in the pasture, they tend to aggregate in close formation, move and graze restlessly, and after a while return voluntarily to the campsite. A principal cause of these behavioral characteristics seems to be insect harassment. In the pasture, there are abundant food, while there also are many harmful insects, such as mosquitoes, blackflies, horseflies and so on. On the other hand, there are limited food and insects in the riverine zone. In order to avoid insect harassment, reindeer seem to aggregate on the “dilution effect ”, move and graze restlessly in the pasture, and return to reverine zone for rest. In addition to this, people occasionally feed salt to their reindeer at campsite. By this practice reindeer may be conditioned to return the campsite.
