Scale-free dynamics in the movement patterns of jackals

• Published in: Oikos Vol. 98; no. 1; pp. 134 - 140
• Main Authors: Atkinson, R. P. D., Rhodes, C. J., Macdonald, D. W., Anderson, R. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copenhagen Munksgaard International Publishers 01.07.2002; Blackwell Publishers; Blackwell
• Subjects: Aerial locomotion; Animal and plant ecology; Animal ethology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; Dogs; Foraging; Foxes; Fractals; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Jackals; Mammalia; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Rabies; Random walk; Trajectories; Vertebrata; Zimbabwe; Africa; Fissipedia; Carnivora; Feeding behavior; Tracking; Radiotelemetry; Environmental factor; Animal active movement; Method; Foraging behavior; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Fractal; Trajectory
• ISSN: 0030-1299; 1600-0706
• DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0706.2002.980114.x

Using conventional radio-tracking techniques employed by field ecologists, evidence for scale-free (fractal) behaviour in the foraging trajectories of a species of African jackal is presented. It is believed that the particular form of foraging strategy observed here is a response by the jackal to its need to locate resources in an unpredictable environment. The methods used in this study are completely general and can be applied to other radio-tracked species, thus beginning a systematic investigation of foraging strategies in mammals.