SOCIAL-STRUCTURE, BEHAVIOR, AND ECOLOGICA L PARAMETERS OF A MIGRATORYPOPULATION OF THE SIBERIAN ROE DEER (CAPREOLUS-PYGARGUS PALL)

Data obtained in 1988 - 1994 during a long-term study of the ecology a nd behavior of a seasonally migrating Siberian roe population in the A mur oblast' are reviewed. Aerial surveillance of 24 roes marked with t ransmitters was used for tracing their migration routes under normal c onditions and in the homing experiment. It was found that the routes o f roe migrations can be as long as 200 km. These routes, as well as su mmer and winter territories and the sites where noes cross the rivers, remain unchanged year after year. In spring, roes migrate back along the same route as in autumn. In autumn, the average rate of migration is 6.1 km per day (the maximum rate is 26 km per day), and in summer i t is 3.8 km per day. The urge to migrate is apparently innate. The roe s memorize the route followed once and are capable of orienting themse lves on expanses of land. The first frosts provide a stimulus for autu mn migrations. Most roes start to migrate 30 - 45 days before the form ation of snow cover, when forage is still abundant. This fact contradi cts traditional views on roe migrations, which fall into the following scheme: thick snow cover; the absence of forage; migrations. A new hy pothesis concerning the evolution of roe migrations is proposed. The s ocial, sex, and age structures of the population are analyzed.