Daily activity rhythms in mammals are influenced by a range of biotic and abiotic factors. During warm periods, mountain ungulates living in open areas typically show a bimodal pattern of activity rhythms, with peaks at dawn and dusk. To date, however, little is known about the activity patterns of mountain ungulates living in forested habitats and in areas where large predators are present. Using camera traps over a 6-month period between May and October of 2012, we investigated the activity pattern of a chamois population dwelling in the forests of the northern Mount Velebit region (Croatia) and its overlap with the activity patterns of potential predators (brown bear, grey wolf) and competitors (wild boar). Chamois showed a peak of activity between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., when 65 % of individuals were photographed. Contrary to previous literature on chamois, we found evidence for a unimodal pattern of activity with a peak in the early morning hours: At a seasonal level, this pattern remained fairly consistent, though the activity at dusk increased in the warmest months. The main peak of activity occurred during periods of decreased activity of potential predators and competitors, and chamois exhibited the least tolerance for overlap with grey wolf. Further studies are needed to clarify whether this pattern is typical of forest-dwelling populations or if it reflects a temporal niche shift, possibly as a strategy to avoid predators.

The aoudad (Ammotragus lervia Pallas 1777) is an ungulate species, native to the mountain ranges of North Africa. In the second half of the twentieth century, it was successfully introduced in some European countries, mainly for hunting purposes, i.e. in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Spain. We used neutral genetic markers, the mitochondrial DNA control region sequence and microsatellite loci, to characterize and compare genetic diversity and spatial pattern of genetic structure on different timeframes among all European aoudad populations. Four distinct control region haplotypes found in European aoudad populations indicate that the aoudad has been introduced in Europe from multiple genetic sources, with the population in the Sierra Espuña as the only population in which more than one haplotype was detected. The number of detected microsatellite alleles within all populations (< 3.61) and mean proportion of shared alleles within all analysed populations (< 0.55) indicates relatively low genetic variability, as expected for new populations funded by a small number of individuals. In STRUCTURE results with K = 2–4, Croatian and Czech populations cluster in the same genetic cluster, indicating joined origin. Among three populations from Spain, Almeria population shows as genetically distinct from others in results, while other Spanish populations diverge at K = 4. Maintenance of genetic diversity should be included in the management of populations to sustain their viability, specially for small Czech population with high proportion of shared alleles (0.85) and Croatian population that had the smallest estimated effective population size (Ne = 5.4).

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The aoudad is a bovid species native to North Africa and highly adaptable to different environments. Although some morphological data of aoudad has been published, the research mostly dealt with measurements taken from captive populations. Therefore, morphological data of free-ranging populations in their non-native habitat is largely unknown. The present study analysed the important morphometric parameters in a non-native Mediterranean population of aoudad. Body and horn measurements were taken on 30 free-range aoudads (20 M, 10 F) legally culled from 2014 to 2019. A descriptive analysis of the quantitative body and horn measurements was performed and an insight into population growth rates was provided. The Mediterranean population of aoudad showed higher mean values of investigated body and horn measurements and higher growth rates than in other research, ranging from ca. 2-10% for most of the measurements. The results suggest that the investigated population is well adapted to Mediterranean habitat which allowed aoudad to notably allocate energy to both body and horn development. This research is a contribution to knowledge about how specific habitat might shape aoudad population life-history traits.