Andean bear home ranges in the Intag region, Ecuador

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I estimated home ranges of 5 female and 4 male Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) inhabiting the Intag region in Ecuador between September 2001 and December 2006, using 1,439 and 412 telemetry locations for females and males, respectively. Multi-annual and seasonal home ranges were estimated using 2 methods: minimum convex polygon (MCP) and nearest-neighbor convex hull (k-NNCH) analyses. I considered k-NNCH analysis the best method for estimating Andean bear home ranges in fragmented landscapes such as those across the study site. Annual home range of males (59 km²) were larger than those for females (15 km²) using the k-NNCH method. During the rainy season home ranges of males were 23 km² versus 10 km² for females, and in the dry season, 27 km² versus 7 km². All bears in this study showed some degree of home range overlap, indicating intra-specific tolerance. The mean annual k-NNCH home range of males overlapped home ranges of females by 32%, and among females, overlap was 22%. No evidence of territorial behavior was observed in this study.