Russia – Россия

There are very little data about daily activity patterns of Canis lupus (hereinafter – wolf) living in open arid habitats with low human density in Dauria. Therefore we have studied the influence of human activity, reproduction and weather conditions on daily patterns and duration of the activity of 17 GPS-collared wolves in the Daursky State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Russia, from 2015 to 2020. GPS-collars were equipped with acceleration sensors. Wolves were active 44% (± 0.02 SE) of the day and traveled 1.21 km/h (± 0.10 SE) on average. The mean duration of subsequent activity periods was 7.36 h (± 1.5 SD). The duration of the subsequent, inactivity period was 10.07 h (± 4.2 SD). Travelling speed significantly increased when wolves made extraterritorial forays from their home range to territories of neighbouring packs. The highest activity index corresponds to long-distance dispersing wolves. Weather conditions and human activity did not significantly effect wolves daily activity patterns. Wolves were generally less active and mobile during the cold season. All wolves showed crepuscular movement peaks. Five of the wolves’ movement patterns switched to diurnal eight cases when they conducted an extraterritorial foray crossing territories of neighbouring packs. We conclude that wolves’ daily activity patterns were mainly shaped by a combination of several facto

Using remote tracking (GPS+GSM module) we documented long-distance natal dispersals of two yearling wolves (Canis lupus) from The Daursky State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Russia. From the arithmetic center of natal home ranges the collared male and female traveled the straight-line natal dispersal distance of 280 km and 332.8 km, over 82 days and 34 days, respectively. Minimum distances of the entire tracking period were 3090.7 km (male) and 2056.7 km (female); the estimated actual travel distance of the entire tracking period was 9849 km and 4530 km, respectively. The travel speed of the wolves varied between phases (pre-dispersal, dispersal, and post-dispersal) and movement patterns (directional, nondirectional, and cluster). The mean travel speed of both wolves was the highest during dispersing (34.6 and 39.5 km/day), calculated as a minimum distance. It was one of the highest dispersal speeds among reported. The highest hourly mean travel speed was during pre-dispersing at dawn, moving directly (the male, 5.77 ± 4.25 km/h; the female, 4.09 ± 2.44 km/h). During pre-dispersing forays they returned several times to their home territories. During dispersal, yearlings crossed at least 5 territories of other packs. Wolves explored the steppe and forest-steppe in less modified habitats of the Russian part of the Dauria ecoregion and in the human-dominated Chinese part of the ecoregion.

This paper studies the manifestation of philopatry and dispersal in wolves at the level of family, population group (the Central Forest Reserve), and population (Tver oblast). The importance of a den area for a wolf in the formation of the territorial structure is shown. The “philopatric” behavior of 35 wolves from seven families in a completing circle of flags is analyzed: 32 individuals (16 adult and 16 young wolves from different families) crossed flags toward a den, and only three chose a different direction. This behavior was typical for the entire population group of wolves both for young individuals born and raised in this place and for adult wolves (both resident wolves and their children who have created here new pairs and then families). Attention is focused on the role of “dispersant” wolves in 1972–1982: a rapid increase in the population was caused by internal reserves due to the dispersal of juveniles for short distances. Analysis of the available field and literature data shows that dispersers “transfer” ecological, behavioral, spatial functional, and structural features of a family; i.e., they are bearers of its traditions.

We examined the genetic diversity and structure of wolf populations in northwestern Russia. Populations in Republic of Karelia and Arkhangelsk Oblast were sampled during 1995–2000, and 43 individuals were genotyped with 10 microsatellite markers. Moreover, 118 previously genotyped wolves from the neighbouring Finnish population were used as a reference population. A relatively large amount of genetic variation was found in the Russian populations, and the Karelian wolf population tended to be slightly more polymorphic than the Arkhangelsk population. We found significant inbreeding (F = 0.094) in the Karelian, but not in the Arkhangelsk population. The effective size estimates of the Karelian wolf population based on the approximate Bayesian computation and linkage disequilibrium methods were 39.9 and 46.7 individuals, respectively. AMOVA-analysis and exact test of population differentiation suggested clear differentiation between the Karelian, Arkhangelsk and Finnish wolf populations. Indirect estimates of gene flow based on the level of population differentiation (ϕ _ST  = 0.152) and frequency of private alleles (0.029) both suggested a low level of gene flow between the populations (Nm = 1.4 and Nm = 3.7, respectively). Assignment analysis of Karelian and Finnish populations suggested an even lower number of recent migrants (less than 0.03) between populations, with a larger amount of migration from Finland to Karelia than vice versa. Our findings emphasise the role of physical obstacles and territorial behaviour in creating barriers to gene flow between populations in relatively limited geographical areas, even in large-bodied mammalian species with long-distance dispersal capabilities and an apparently continuous population structure.

На основе материалов наземных и аэровизуальных наблюдений, обработки добытых животных за период 1984-2007 гг. характеризуется структура центрального миграционного потока диких северных оленей таймырской популяции в бассейне р. Дудыпта. Установлены сроки, интенсивность, направление миграций животных, половая и возрастная структура мигрантов. Полученные эколого-популяционные характеристики центрального миграционного потока диких оленей, как слабоопромышляемого, могут служить эталоном для дальнейших исследований основных демографических параметров всей популяции при возрастающем воздействии антропогенных факторов, в том числе и «пресса» промысла.

A literature survey was undertaken in order to draw up a definitive list of helminth parasites of the wolf, Canis lupus. From 27 papers a total of 72 helminth species from 40 genera were recorded that infect wolves, of which 93% were identified from the gastrointestinal tract at necropsy. They comprised 28 species of nematode, 27 species of cestode, 16 species of trematode and one acanthocephalan. Of these, 46 species were able to be included in further meta-analysis of prevalence data derived from 25 publications for which the total number of wolves examined was 1282 (1066 from Nearctic populations, and 216 from the Palaearctic region). These two populations were further subdivided into three relevent ecosystems or biomes, i.e. temperate/montane (n=216), boreal (n=805) or tundra (n=261). The meta-analysis of relative prevalence indicated the most common helminth species to be the tapeworm Taenia hydatigena, which occurred at relative rates of >30% for either zoogeographic region as well as in each of the three biomes. The related tapeworm, Echinococcus granulosus also exhibited high meta-prevalence (>19%) in all host biomes. The hookworm Uncinaria stenocephala was the most prevalent nematode species by meta-analysis (meta-prevalence 44.9%) in the temperate/montane biome, while the ascarid Toxascaris leonina was the dominant helminth species (meta-prevalence 73.9%) in the tundra wolf populations. Trematodes in the genus Alaria were the dominant fluke (meta-prevalence 3–5%) in all biomes. Analysis of published studies for helminth biodiversity using the Shannon-Wiener index based on species number and meta-prevalence by region or biome, indicated that highest helminth diversity occurred in wolf populations of the temperate/ montane biome (Palaearctic), and was lowest in tundra wolf populations of the Nearctic (P<0.05). Helminth species assemblage in European wolf populations was therefore at least as great or more varied than was recorded for the larger less disturbed wolf populations of North America.

he wolf Canis lupus is a major terrestrial predator in eastern Europe and, as a top carnivore, may be exposed to high concentrations of contaminants that are readily transferred through the food chain. Despite this, there are few published data on pollutant and pesticide levels in wolves. This study utilised tissues from animals legally killed by hunters for other reasons (animals were not killed for the purposes of this study) to carry out the only detailed investigation of contaminants in wolves in Europe and the first in animals from Eastern Europe. The livers of 58 wolves from the Tver and Smoliensk regions of northwest Russia (54 degrees N 31 degrees E to 57 degrees N 35 degrees E) were analysed for seven organochlorine pesticides, 24 PCB congeners, Aroclor 1254-matched summed PCBs (sigmaPCBs), total mercury, cadmium and lead. Cadmium, most of the organochlorine pesticides and many PCB congeners were not detectable in any of the wolves. Hexachlorobenzene, alpha-HCH, pp’DDE, PCB congeners 118, 138, 149 and 156 and lead were detected in up to 6% of livers. Dieldrin, PCB congeners 153, 170 and 180, sigmaPCBs and mercury were detected more frequently. Contaminant levels were generally low; maximum wet weight concentrations of any of the organochlorine pesticides, sigmaPCBs and mercury were less than 0.1, 1 and 0.25 microg g(-1), respectively. PCB congeners 153, 170 and 180 accounted for 41% of the sigmaPCBs. Dieldrin, sigmaPCBs and mercury concentrations did not vary significantly between males and females nor between adult and juvenile (< 12 months old) wolves apart from the sigmaPCB concentration, which was on average five times higher in adults than juveniles. Liver residues were generally below the level normally associated with adverse effects except for lead levels which exceeded the critical 5 microg g(-1) dry wt. concentration in three of the 58 animals examined.