Home Ranges of the Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes (Carnivora, Canidae) and European Badger, Meles meles (Carnivora, Mustelidae), in Oak Forests of Slobozhanshchyna, Ukraine

Abstract

Abstract The research was carried out in 6 territories located in oak forests of Slobozhanshchyna in 2007–2016. Family home ranges were determined using the average nearest neighbour distance between all setts of a sett system for the badgers and between breeding burrows for the foxes. The use of fox and badger family home ranges in different seasons and years was estimated by changes in the use of burrows at the monitoring site of Gomilshanski Lisy National Nature Park. In the oak forests, 173 burrows were studied, among which 75 are used by badgers and 45 by foxes. The area of most of the badger family home ranges in the oak forests is 28–88 hа. The area of the fox family home ranges in the oak forests is 86 to 892 ha. In the oak forests of Slobozhanshchyna, badger and fox family home ranges correspond to the data for similar biotopes in Europe. Seasonal changes of the badger family home range used at the monitoring site in Gomilshanski Lisy NNP in general correspond to literature radio tracking data. Changes in use of the fox family home range de pend on fluctuations of the abundance of rodents.