Effects of an earthquake on wildlife behavior: a case study of takin (Budorcas taxicolor) in Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve,China

The question of whether large-scale disturbances, such as earthquakes, impact an animal’s behavior significantly is an important question, but one that is difficult to answer due to the unpredictability of these types of events. Here, we collected 323 GPS locations of four takin (Budorcas taxicolor tibetana) in 13 days before and after a powerful (8.0 magnitude) earthquake on May 12, 2008 in Sichuan Province, China. The movement during this period was compared to that of three of the same animals during a corresponding period in 2009 (April 30 to May 25) and a slightly later 2009 period based on the start of migration (May 6 to May 31). We found that home ranges reduced in size during each study period, due to the migration process, but with no discernable differences due to the earthquake. The takin also showed the same pattern of elevation change and linear travel distance during 2008 and 2009, indicating no detectable effect of the earthquake on spatial behavior of takin. These findings add to our knowledge of how animals respond to catastrophic natural events in the wild.