Tuesday 31 May 2016

Territory and Home range:

Home range depends on the amount of survival resources closest to a species territory. For example, baboons home range may be small as the survival resources needed may be only a few meters away e.g. living near ocean to catch fish, living under trees where leaves, fruit are available. Whereas if there is a shortage of survival resources the home range will become larger as species must travel longer distance to get survival resources. Home range in my understanding is defined as the reach/range of survival resources. The further the access of food the larger the home range. Explain how environmental factors impacts the home range size. Include Area, approximate home range size, approximate daily range, average troop size, habitat and yearly rainfall. Explain how environmental factors impacts the daily range size. Include Area, approximate home range size, approximate daily range, average troop size, habitat and yearly rainfall. The area is a factor that impacts the home range size. Baboons that live in Bole Valley, Ethiopia have an approximate home range size of 0.745km2 - 1.12km2. Also according to the data provided the Baboons daily range is approximately 0.3 to 2.0 km. The average troop size is 15-24. This may be because the habitat that these baboons live in have a mixed forest and grassland which means it is lush and have a healthy habitat to grow vegetables, fruit and leaves which may as well attract bigger prey for the baboons to kill and eat. However, Baboons that live in the area Laikipia Plateau, Kenya have a larger home range compared to Ethiopia of 43.8 km2 and daily range of 5.64. They have an average number of 100 troops. This may be because of the habitat that these baboons live in which is full of dry grassland. Dry grassland can not grow healthy fruits, vegetables and grass which means these baboons must travel further out to find food. This is why their home range is wider.

1 comment:

  1. Great answer, you've hit the merit points (which are the highest marks for this part of the question)! The excellence marks come from the other bullet point about benefits in being part of a troop with a dominance hierarchy.

    One thing I would say is that in the first part of your answer when you are saying that they only go a meter or two; the data in the table gave you the exact distances that they travel each day (daily range) and that's the distance that you should have talked about, rather than guessing a meter or two.

    Also, a definition for home range is an area visited on a daily basis to hunt or gather food, water, or mates. Home ranges often overlap and some competition for resources can occur, but animals do not defend the boundaries of their home range (unlike their territories).

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