A note on the behavior of feral cattle in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico

Habitat use and behavior of three feral cattle were compared to three domes tic cattle in the Mapimi Biosphere Reserve, Chihuahuan Desert, where approx imately 1000 feral cows were found on 151,000 ha. Feral cattle were found t o represent an ecotype adapted to desert conditions. In comparison with dom estic cattle, feral animals lived in small group sizes (1-20 animals), had larger home range sizes ((x) over bar = 47 vs. 14 km(2)), traveled longer d istances hourly ((x) over bar = 1 vs. 0.3 km/h) and daily ((x) over bar = 2 0 vs. 7 km/day) and used more kinds of habitats than domestic cattle. Seaso nally feral cattle used different kinds of habitats in comparison to domest ic cattle which intensively used ephemeral streams throughout the year. Ant i-predator strategies in response to hunting by local ranchers are thought to explain the pattern. We suggest this pattern of habitat use could minimi ze the impact of cattle on desert environments. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B .V. All rights reserved.