MOVEMENTS OF FERAL CAMELS IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA DETERMINED BY SATELLITE TELEMETRY

Movements of two female one-humped camels in central Australia were tr acked using satellite telemetry between March 1986 and July 1987. Duri ng that time both animals travelled a minimum distance of over 1000 km within a radius of 125 km for one animal, and 200 km for the other. H owever, their movements were quite punctuated and both animals spent p eriods of up to several months in relatively small areas before moving over longer distances to new areas. Both camels moved at greater rate s overnight. An activity index, probably measuring feeding rate, decli ned during the study period for both animals. Patchy and sporadic rain fall may explain some of these results. (C)1995 Academic Press Limited