Spatiotemporal variability in activity patterns of urban street cattle as function of environmental factors

ABSTRACT

In the current study, we studied behavioral patterns, such as foraging, activity, standing, and laying in a population of cattle wandering on streets of Raipur city. We also determined the effects of four environmental factors (temperature, humidity, light, and noise intensities) on these behaviors. We recorded all four behavioral variables at four time points each day over a period of three consecutive days at 10 randomly selected locations using on-site human observation method, digital video, and still camera. We used Cosinor rhythmometry to analyze the time series data on all four behavioral variables. One-way ANOVA was performed to determine the impact of the factor “time of the day” on all observed behavioral variables. Pearson correlation was also employed to evaluate the relationship between the environmental and behavioral variables. Cosinor analyses revealed statistically significant 24-h rhythms in all observed behavioral variables, at the group level, with peaks of foraging, activity, standing, and laying located at 11.54 h, 14.54 h, 18.66 h, and 23.88 h, respectively. Factor “time of the day” had statistically significant effect on all observed behavioral variables. Foraging and activity were found to be positively correlated with temperature, light, and noise intensities; and negatively correlated with humidity. The laying behavior was found to be negatively associated with temperature, light, and noise intensities; and positively correlated with humidity. The findings of this study might be helpful in the management of cattle menace that has become an annoying phenomenon on the streets and highways of almost all Indian cities.

KEYWORDS:

• Street cattle
• foraging
• activity
• standing
• laying
• rhythmic pattern
• cattle menace

Acknowledgements

This work is a part of the Doctor of Philosophy thesis of one of the authors (BKS). We are grateful to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for financial support through its DRS-SAP scheme sanctioned in the thrust area - Chronobiology to the School of Studies in Life Sciences, Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University (PRSU), Raipur. We are also thankful to Municipal Corporation of Raipur, India, for their cooperation and for providing us with the data on garbage bins installation and map of Raipur city. We record our especial thanks to Mr. Radhe Lal Markam for assisting us during the field study. The Head of the Department, School of Studies in Life Science obliged us through providing logistics support. We are thankful to Dr. C.R. Kar, formerly Professor at the School of Studies in Literature and Languages, PRSU, Raipur for language editing of the manuscript. We are also obliged to an anonymous reviewer for offering us with valuable suggestions for the improvement of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India under the scheme of Joint CSIR-UGC NET for Junior Research Fellowship [Sr. No. 2121530765. Ref. No: 20/12/2015 (ii) EU –V dated 18/05/2016] to BKS.