Effects of radio-collars on Behaviour of Alpine Chamois Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra

Wildlife research often uses radio-telemetry to track habitat use and movement of individual animals. This method may cause suffering or changes in the behaviour of radio-collared animals. The behavioural data collected may not be representative of the wild population, if the transmitter affects the behaviour of the animals. We therefore assessed the effect of radio-collars on some aspects of behaviour of alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra in the Swiss Alps. We also determined if collared animals were isolated from non-collared animals. We observed in 30-minute focal animal sampling periods the behaviour of nine female alpine chamois carrying a radio-collar for > 2 years and 40 non-collared females. Analysed behaviour included grazing (head down, head up), alert, scratching and licking. Furthermore, we compared distances between a non-collared female chamois and her collared and non-collared neighbours. Multivariate analysis revealed no significant difference in the behaviour of collared and non-collared chamois. For a non-collared chamois, there was no preference to be nearer to a non-collared than to a collared neighbour. We conclude that the tested radio-collars did not affect the behaviour of the chamois and that collared animals were not isolated from non-collared animals.