Night time visits of sika deer (<i>Cervus nippon</i>) to the Mizorogaike wetland, Central Japan

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  • 深泥池湿原に夜間出没するニホンジカ<i>Cervus nippon</i>
  • 深泥池湿原に夜間出没するニホンジカCervus nippon
  • シンデイチ シツゲン ニ ヤカン シュツボツ スル ニホンジカ Cervus nippon

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The Mizorogaike wetland, near Kyoto, central Japan, suffers from repeated invasion by sika deer (Cervus nippon). We set 34 camera traps in and around the Mizorogaike wetland (4 in the wetland itself, 17 in the eastern area and 5 in the western area of Takaragaike Park, 3 in the Motoyama National Forest, and 5 in the Kamigamo Experimental Forest of Kyoto University) from 16 June 2014 to 17 December 2014 to reveal the relationship between deer in the wetland and those in the surrounding forest. We photographed 1485 individuals of 11 mammal species over a total of 2700 trap nights (55 individuals/100 trap nights). Thus, this forest remnant in an otherwise urban area plays an important role as a habitat for mammals. On the other hand, 93.2% of photographs were of deer. The relative abundance index for deer in the Mizorogaike wetland was near zero during the day, but very high at night. In contrast, the abundance indices in western/eastern Takaragaike Park showed the opposite trend, while those in Motoyama National Park and Kamigamo Experimental Forest showed no differences between day and night. Therefore, we suggest that deer visiting the Mizorogaike wetland enter around sunset, stay the night, and return to Takaragaike Park around sunrise.

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