Back to: Top / Contents

Daily activity patterns

A study of the daily activity pattern of the Taiwanese subspecies of the Chinese ferret badger (Melogale moschata subaurantiaca) has shown that this species is almost completely nocturnal.

In this study, captive animals were monitored by video cameras from January to March 1993. The video evidence revealed that the animals were active between the hours of 19.00 (about 2 hours after dusk) and 08.00 hours (about 2 hours after sunrise). Activity levels were low to begin with, but gradually increased to a peak at about 06.00 hours, and then declined rapidly over the next 2 hours.

The animals were not active continuously throughout the night, as they returned to their nest boxes from time to time to rest, for periods ranging from 2 to more than 30 minutes. There were also brief periods of daytime activity. The total time for which the animals were active over the course of a day averaged 4 hours and 13 minutes.

The patterns observed in this study closely matched results from a study of ferret badgers in the wild, where auto-trigger cameras were used to monitor the animals' activity.

The Burmese, Javan and Everett's ferret badgers are also reported to be nocturnal.

Back to: Top / Contents

Yearly activity patterns

The breeding behaviour of the Chinese ferret badger on Taiwan is affected by the dry season, when breeding stops. Apart from this, I have found no information to suggest that there are any significant variations in the activity patterns of the ferret badgers over the course of a year.

Back to: Top / Contents

Picture credits

The Burmese ferret badger photo used at the head of this Article is © Mr Sawai Wanghongsa, and used with the kind permission of the Royal Forest Department of Thailand. Credits for the photos used in the right-hand margin of this page for site navigation can be found on the Credits page.

Back to: Top / Contents