A study of interspecific interactions of European (Meles meles) and Asian (M. leucurus) badgers with other carnivores at badger setts was carried out in Darwin Reserve (European part of Russia) and in Ussuriisk Reserve (Russian Far East) in 2006-2011. We used camera traps for the registration of visits of carnivore mammals to the badger setts. Overall, 11 species were recorded. In both reserves, badger setts attract carnivore species during the whole year. Some predators visit badger setts regularly. The visitors can be divided into two groups: species searching shelter, or searching prey. The first group includes raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides and red fox Vulpes vulpes. Raccoon dog was the most frequent visitor in both study areas (34 visits in Darwin reserve and 73 in Ussuriisk reserve). The second group includes lynx Lynx lynx and wolf Canis lupus in Darwin reserve and Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanus, brown bear U. arctos, yellow-throated marten Martes flavigula aterrima and lynx Lynx lynx in Ussuriisk reserve. Smaller predators are also included into the second group because they can find prey at badger setts too: leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis euptilura, sable Martes zibellina and Siberian weasel Mustela sibirica in Ussuriisk reserve and European pine marten Martes martes in Darwin reserve. No cases of aggressive interactions between the badgers and the visitors were recorded. But we noted two cases of change of sett owners and one case when raccoon dog removed dead badger cubs from the sett.
Bat migrations have been studied for a long time, but large areas remain poorly explored in this regard. This note reports a record migration distance of the Nathusius’ pipistrelle – 2486 km from Russia to the French Alps. This distance exceeds the previous record flight from Latvia to Spain by 260 km. Hibernating colonies of Nathusius’ pipistrelle are known in the Caucasus. However, our data show that Nathusius’ pipistrelle can fly much longer for hibernating.
The European badger's (Meles meles) daily activity was studied in two regions of European Russia with camera traps. The results of the study show that the daily activity of the European badger on settlements does not differ in the compared populations inhabiting Darwin Reserve and Meschera National Park. The badger appears on surface often during the daylight contrary to the classical idea of nocturnal activity of the species. More than half of all animal registrations occur at daylight during the summer. The moderate climate of the study areas and low level of human persecution are considered among the possible reasons of this type of activity. The daily activity of the European badger undergoes markedly seasonal changes in both populations. Badgers more often came out from their setts during daylight in summer and at night in autumn. The results have practical application in the organisation of the census of badgers by means of camera traps.
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