INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS OF DAILY ACTIVITY PATTERNS IN RADIOTRACKED EUROPEAN HARES DURING WINTER

Daily movements during winter of 2 adult male (Nos 1 and 3) and 2 adult female (Nos 2 and 4) radiotracking hares Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 were estimated from simultaneous bearings using a 50 x 50 m grid. As deduced every 4 h both from the average rate of recorded changes of squares on the grid, and from the average distance travelled, we found that the hares had a typically nocturnal locomotor activity pattern. However, when comparing individual data, we found that significant variations occurred from 12.00 to 15.59, and between 00.00 and 07.59. We also estimated that the average daily activity of the hares started near sunset (mean = 23 min after sunset, range +/- 110 min), and ended near sunrise (mean = 14 min before sunrise, range +/- 60 min), male No 1 usually spending more time in activity than the 3 other specimens. Finally, we assessed the differences in nocturnal distance travelled between individuals (Nos 2, 3, and 4) for a given period (during week 6, mean = 3.91 km, range 6.02-2.62), and also during several nights (during weeks 6, 8, 10 and 12) for male No 3. We concluded that some inter- and intra-individual variations of activity patterns occurred on various time scales (day-to-day or during a given night), such differences probably contributing to confuse predators.