沙漠研究 24-1, 51-56 (2014)
Ἃ₍◊✲ 24-1, 51 - 56 (2014)
Journal of Arid Land Studies
Journal of Arid Land Studies－ DT11 Refereed Paper －㸫DT11 Refereed Paper㸫

Comparative Characteristics of the Home Ranges of Domestic and Wild
Animals in Arid and Semi-Arid Afro-Eurasian Watering Places as Hot Spotsfor Pasture Degradation
Buho HOSHINO*1), Hiroshi NAWATA2), Kenji KAI3), Hiroshi YASUDA4), Kenji BABA1), Sumiya GANZORIG5),
SURIGA5), Manayeva KARINA5), Tsedendamba PUREVSUREN5), Miki HASHIMOTO5), Kenji KAWASHIMA5),
Jun NODA6), Katsuro HAGIWARA6) and Yuka SHIBATA1)
Abstract: In this study, we investigated home range of wildlife and livestock that graze on pastures in Mongolia, China (Inner
Mongolia and Tibet) and Sudan. In order to clarify the animal home range, the daily movement of domestic and wild animals wastracked using GPS (Global Positioning System) collars and ARGOS satellite transmitters. The home range of sheep, goats andhorses was investigated in Mongolia and China; those of camels, donkeys and goats in Sudan; migration of Tibetan antelope (Chiru,
Pantholops hodgsoni) in Tibet; and home range of the Brandt vole (Microtus brandti) in Mongolia. The home ranges of sheep andgoats in nomadic Mongolian family are simple, elongated in shape and possess almost no track intersections. The daily routes
possess the same pattern, but pass in different places and do not overlay the previous. Those of sheep and goats in settled nomad
families in Inner Mongolia differ in shape, have multiple overlays and tend to cross previous paths. Grazing inside fenced pasturecauses this pattern; grazing velocity and total distances are higher than that of Mongolian livestock. In Mongolia, surroundings oflivestock watering sites are heavily degenerated in a range of 1 km radius. Pasture degradation attracts rodent species, Microtus
brandti, to those sites. Analysis of the habitat selection by this rodent on Maximum Entropy Model showed that habitat most
preferred by voles are degraded grasslands along roads, ger (tent-type movable house) and watering sites with percent contribution
varying from 5.5 to 47.9, and permutation importance of 25.1; 48.7 and 20.9, respectively. We suggest that in conditions of arid andsub-arid land, the livestock and wild animal’s concentration around water sources may cause progressing degradation of pasture anddesertification.
Key Words: Arid and semi-arid Afro-Eurasia, Home ranges of domestic and wild animals, Satellite tracking, Watering places

1. Introduction
Both geographically and ecologically, the Afro-Eurasiancontinental dry land is characterized by arid land with less than
250 mm of annual rainfall, or semi-arid (Gobi) with less than
500 mm of rainfall and represented by deserts, steppes,
savanna, and mountain steppes. All these are poor in water
resources. In condition of aridity the water is a major driving
force for various environmental changes. In such places thepeople, livestock and wild animals are forced to beconcentrated around water sources (rivers, lakes, wells, springsetc.), and their life traces often results in inhibition of thevegetation around that place.
Over-exploitation ofsurroundings of the water source area result in it being devoidof plants and barren. Since water sources are very rare in arid
land, their usage is very intense, without rest time and impedes

the recovery of vegetation. Places with long term degradation
may increase in size, covering the adjoining area and could
serve as hot spots for the further degradation or desertificationof the pastures. Moreover, due to climate change in recent
years, the overgrazing of pastures in Mongolia has lead to the
expansion of desertification and degradation of grassland(Batima et al., 2005). Newly deserted areas generate a newsource of yellow sand storms that affects the neighboring
countries and becomes a serious environmental issue. These
environmental changes are shaking animal husbandry which isone of the major industries in the country. Also, it has beensuggested that yellow dust storms may transfer pathogenic
substances like foot-and-mouth disease agents across theborders (Maki et al., 2012).
In this study, we investigated home ranges of different
livestock and wild ungulate species in arid and semi-arid areaof Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia, Tibet) and Sudan.
㸦Received, September 8th, 2013; Accepted, January 10th, 2014㸧

* Corresponding Author: aosier@rakuno.ac.jp
582 Midorimachi, Bunkyodai, Ebetsu-shi, Hokkaido 069-8501
1) Department of Environmental Symbiotic, College of Agriculture,4) Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Japan

Food and Environmental Science, Rakuno Gakuen University, Japan

5) Graduate School of Dairy Sciences, Rakuno Gakuen University, Japan

2) Faculty of Engineering and Resource Science, Akita University, Japan

6) Department of Veterinary Medicine, Rakuno Gakuen University, Japan

3) Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan52

2. Methodology
To clarify the animal home range, daily movement ofdomestic and wild animals was tracked using GPS (Global
Positioning System) collars and ARGOS satellite transmitters.
The home range of sheep, goats and horses was investigated in
Mongolia; those of sheep in China (Inner Mongolia); those ofcamels, donkeys and goats in Sudan; migration of Tibetan
antelope (Chiru, Pantholops hodgsoni) in Tibet; and homerange of the Brandt vole (Microtus brandti) in Mongolia.
The domestic animals were fitted with collars that
contained a GPS logger. Each animal was tracked for one or
two days; the GPS logger was programmed to collectinformation regarding animal positioning every 10 seconds andlocation signal was stored during grazing. All of the data
were downloaded to PC and included date, time, traveling
distance, speed, location (Latitude/Longitude).
Using
geographic information system (GIS) software (ArcGIS 10,
ESRI) coordinates were converted to Universal Transverse
Mercator (UTM) form to facilitate algebraic derivation of total
distances and total areas.
According to the grazing route of an animal the conditionof pastures were investigated on 1 m × 1 m quadrates along atransect from the house with the distance of 100 m, 200 m, 400
m and vegetation coverage, height, species and soil moisture
were measured. We also recorded the spectral reflectance ofplant species by Hand Held-Field Spec (©ASD). NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) data include a
10-day composite SPOT VEGETATION (VGT) data set (with
1 km resolution) from June of 2000 to September of 2011 (ftp://free.vgt.vito.be/home.php) and those from Landsat TM havebeen used in this study.
The spatial and temporal patterns of the endangered
Tibetan antelope have been studied using satellite-based
ARGOS platform transmitter terminal (PTT) tracking data.
The data were obtained from the satellite tracking of nine
female Tibetan antelopes that were collared with satellite
transmitters and have been tracked from August 2007 up to
September 2012. The PTT were programmed to transmit
signals for 24 h period every 3 days and the satellite tracking
data was received through computer communications.
The distribution and habitats of the Brandt vole werestudied using satellite and fieldwork data, aimed to clarify the
influence that the habitation of the Brandt’s vole gives on thedegenerated pastureland. During fieldwork the geo-botanicalstudies (such as plant coverage, species richness, plants heightand dry matter productivity (DMP)), landscape and habitat
observations (such as elevation, land cover, colony sizes, andpopulation density) were conducted. Field and satellite data
were analyzed using Maximum Entropy Modeling. Maxent

(a)

(b)

Fig. 1. GPS tracks of livestock where, (a): behavior of grazing sheep
in mountain steppes of Harhorin County (Mongolia); (b):behavior of grazing sheep in the settlement in Abaq Xushuu
of Inner Mongolia (the animals move around home, theirtracks are forming numerous intersections).

Model is based on a machine learning response that is designed
to make predictions from incomplete data. This approach
estimates the most uniform distribution (maximum entropy) of
sampling points compared to background locations given theconstraints derived from the data (Phillips et al., 2006). The
approximation of an unknown probability distribution should
satisfy any known constraints, and subject to those constraints,should have maximum entropy (Jaynes, 1957).

3. Result and Discussion
3.1. Home range of livestock of nomadic and settled
pastoralists
In conditions of mountain steppe zone of Mongolia(Harhorin County), nomads are located very close to a water
source (Orkhon River). All of the sheep (5 sheep/days) andgoat tracks (5 goat/days) graphically represented as simple
elongated polygon, in which individual animals have moved
from household to pasture and go back to home or well (Fig.
1(a)). It has been shown that the livestock movement tracked
in different household places and during different dates
possesses a similar pattern. The daily routes possess the same
pattern, but pass in different places, not overlaying theprevious.
The sheep tracks in settlements of Inner Mongolia, where
livestock breeders use fences to protect their owned pastures,are different in shape with numerous intersections, grazing
distance and other characteristics (Fig. 1(b)). The fences arelargely restricting behavior of the animals that are forced tograze in narrow range inside the fences. Multiple overlays
and crosses of previous paths are the characteristic patterncaused by grazing in enclosures. Grazing velocity and total
grazing distances were higher than that of Mongolian

53

Table 1. Comparison of livestock home ranges in two study sites in
Mongolia and Inner Mongolia.

Inner Mongolia
Mongolia

Grazing velocity (km/h)

Tracking area (ha)

MEAN
0.65
0.54

MEAN
214.88246.03

SD
0.07
0.3

SD
149.73
197.36

Fig. 2. Distribution of NDVI values in dependence with distancefrom the water source (Orkhon River, Harhorin County,
Mongolia).

livestock.
3.2. Degradation of pastures around water sources
Depending on the frequency of its use by livestock, thewater source places can become a hot spot for desertificationand degradation of the land. Figure 2 shows the values ofnormalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) calculated
from Landsat TM satellite data, which were overplayed on the
sheep satellite tracking data. During the 16 year period from1995 to 2011, the vegetation coverage at riverbed and bothsides of the Orkhon River was deteriorated in an 1 km distance
range from the river due to livestock trampling. The plantheight and coverage has gradually decreased with closer toriver distances, for except only two species that are of low
palatability to livestock (such as Potentilla bifurca Linnaeus,and Elymus chinensis). Especially after 2002 when the study
area was utilized as summer pastures, the vegetation cover inriver basin showed significant degradation (Hoshino et al.,2009, 2012; Suriga et al., 2012).
Plants with a high grazing-resistance, such as species
belonging to Urticaceae or Iridaceous, were dominant inriverbed and places closer to ger; the results of our field survey
showed that species belonging to these families were abundantin 1 km range from the river. NDVI values reach peak at the
distance of 4.5 km from the ger and river. The places near toger and water source are characterized by plants with poor
palatability, but this varies with distances. In general, plants
with low palatability are widely distributed and dominant
species are perennial grasses belong to Poaceae and annual
species belong to Asteraceae. It is considered that in this area
the grassland degradation is progressing even at 5 km distancefrom the river.
Because there is a water source in the vicinity of 200 m
from the ger, the plant cover is reduced by trampling, andFig. 3. GPS tracking of the domestic horse in Mongolia (August 28,
2002; Mungunmorit County).

consists mainly of species with low palatability.
In
comparison with 2011, when precipitation values were only
half that of 2012 (208 mm vs 400 mm), the vegetation had
overall increased in 2012. However, there was no change inabundance of Poaceae and only annuals are benefited from asudden rainfall.
The pasture use by livestock in settled households in Inner
Mongolia and nomadic households in Mongolia is very
different. The movements of sheep and goats in Inner
Mongolia have been restricted by fences and animals whichhave to use the same pasture repeatedly; in Mongolian caseanimal movement has not been restricted by any kind of
artificial barriers and their tracks did not overlay in 2 days offield observation.
Comparison of the average distances, home range area andgrazing velocity of the livestock on both sites (Inner Mongolia
and Mongolia), showed that home range area was larger in
Mongolia, but grazing velocity and distances were longer in
Inner Mongolia (Table 1). It is believed that the home range
area in Inner Mongolia was smaller due to the limiting effect of
pasture fences.
3.3. Home range of domestic horses in Mongolia
GPS tracks of domestic horses in Mongolia were greatly
affected by the hot temperatures and blood-sucking insects that
occurred during our study. Graphically these are represented
as a simple elongated polygon, without crosses on paths.
However the animals spent a lot of time during insect activity

54

Fig. 4. The home range of livestock at Atbara river, East KassalaState, Sudan Republic (where, (a) is domestic camels; (b) isdomestic sheep; (c) is domestic donkeys and (d) is domestic
goats (the red color zone along river is dense mesquite forests,
black lines shows GPS tracking of behavior of livestock).
The background image is provided by Landsat TM 5, the R-G-B
color combination is TM bands 4(NIR)-3(Red)-2(green), October
14, 2011.

Fig. 5. ARGOS satellite ground signals of tracked chiru (chiru
wintering ground are located east from railway; pregnant
chiru headed for lake Huiten nur to give birth).

in waters of Herlen River (Fig. 3).
3.4. Home ranges of livestock in Sudan
The life of nomadic peoples of semi-arid Sudan also relieson the condition of pastures and precipitation; they move northin rainy season and migrate south during a dry season.
Similar to Mongolia, in Sudan, the livestock (camels, donkeys
and goats) home range forms elongated polygons that connect
the water source (home) and the grassland with abundant
vegetation. The home range of camels is slightly larger thanthat of donkeys and goats (Fig. 4).
3.5. Home range of wildlife (Tibetan antelope (Pantholops
hodgsoni))
Satellite tracking of the migrating chiru was successful;eight of nine tracked individuals used a breeding site in thesurroundings of the lake Huiten (or Zhuonai lake) that is
located in the National Reservation of Huh-Xil, China (situated4900 m - 5100 m above sea level). The satellite data clearlyshow exact locations of summer (calving), intermediate(transitional during migration) and winter pastures, and also
provided data on the Tibetan antelope’s temporal distribution
pattern (Figs. 5 and 6).
During the observation period, only winter pastures wereused for the majority of the year (in average 9 months). So
called summer calving grounds were used for a short time of 8
to 20 days and temporal pastures were used during migration
to and from calving ground. As was found in a previous
study, the seasonal migration cycle has been limited to a 3

Fig. 6. Home range of chiru in Tibetan high plateau (four individualsof female chiru with ARGOS transmitter ID 39, 40, 41, 42
showing the same migrational pattern from wintering place
to breeding ground).

month period beginning from May and ending in August(Hoshino et al., 2011; Manayeva et al., 2012).
3.6. Home range of the Brandt Vole (Microtus brandti) in
Mongolia
Heavily overgrazed pastures became suitable habitats forthe colonies of the Brandt’s vole (Microtus brandti). The
rodent pest prefers short grass steppe habitat with sparsevegetation and readily colonizes degenerated pastureland.
Analysis of the habitat selection by this rodent on
Maximum Entropy Model showed that habitat most preferred
by voles are degraded grasslands along roads, “ger” andwatering sites with percent contribution varying from 5.5 to
47.9, and permutation importance of 25.1; 48.7 and 20.9,
respectively (Fig. 7 and Table 2). At this time, we do notbelieve that the more dense distribution of voles around water

55

Fig. 7. Distribution of colonies of Brandt vole (white: ࠐ is ger;
green‫ ە‬is vole colony; the vole colonies are concentrated inplaces with degraded vegetation close to ger, wells, and alongroads).
Table 2. Analysis of the variable contribution for the habitat
selection by Microtus brandti.
Variable

Percent contribution

Permutation importance

Distance from the roads

47.9

25.1

Distance from the Yurt (home)

35.4

48.7

Digital elevation

7.3

2.8

5.5

20.9

Distance from the river(watering places
Effective brightness temperate

2.8

1.2

Heat Load Index
H
ill sshade
hade
Hill
S
lope
Slope
N
DVI
NDVI

0.7
00.3
.3
00.2
.2
0

0.6
0
00.5
.5
00.2
.2

sources is related to the need for water. The livestock
watering sites are trampled and overgrazed at most and became
suitable habitat for the voles. Voles are abundant in degradedgrassland along rivers, as well as around wells and springs(Batsaikhan et al., 2001; Kawashima et al., 2012, 2013).

4. Conclusions
The constant movement of nomads with their livestock
throughout the year is explained by limited natural resources ofwater and plants; nomads need to use that in a sustainable way.
The nomadic movement range is also limited by the spatial andseasonal distribution of the water resources. In Mongolia,
nomadic families are requiring pastures with water sources andthe water availability is a major factor that determines livestock
distribution and its home range patterns. But, in Inner
Mongolia, the pasture size and kind is determined byenclosures, regardless of water source location. So far, thelimiting factor in the former case is a water source and in thelatter case is an enclosure size. The spatial pattern of thehabitat use by sheep and goats are greatly different in the twoplaces due to the availability of water or to the limitation in

pasture space. In general, the animals at first quickly move
tending to reach previously unused pastures and graze whileslowly moving back to home or water source. In restrictedenvironments, grazing behavior is altered to chaotic movementthat results in increased trampling effect on pastures inside.
In unrestricted environments, trampling and overgrazing
occurred around nomads’ home and water sources. Suchplaces are attracting the Brandt vole, which benefits frompasture overgrazing, rapidly multiplying in numbers andspreading over entire degraded pastures. Abrupt population
increase of the rodents leads to the further deterioration of
pastures. The long-term stay around one water source causesa variety of negative outcomes including water depletion,water contamination of the overgrazing at surrounding area,and finally the place becomes a hot spot of degeneration anddesertification.
The home range patterns in livestock in Sudan resembled
those in Mongolia, but the nomad’s home was located awayfrom water source and this has forced the livestock to go rivers
for watering and grazing in its surroundings.
Of the study areas, only Tibet has been well secured withwater sources. The Tibetan antelope is characterized by
distinct female only seasonal migrations, during which thefemales are migrated to calving grounds and after giving birth
go back to wintering places. Causes of such migration are notfully understood and require more detailed investigation that is
important for species conservation and protection.
Pasture degradation in the wide area of arid and semi-arid
Afro-Eurasian watering places is forced by climate change andovergrazing. It is very difficult to provide assessment,
monitoring and management using conventional methods.
However, remote sensing, GPS (Global Positioning System)
and GIS (Geographic Information System) techniques are very
helpful and useful tools for detecting change of habitat andtracking of behavior of animals. We suggest that inconditions of arid and sub-arid land, the livestock and wild
animal’s concentration around water sources may cause
progressing degradation of pasture and desertification.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by grants from Research Institutefor Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Japan (Project leader: Dr. H.
Nawata) and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (No.)
23404014 (Project leader Prof. Hiroshi Yasuda) and (No.)
24340111 (Project leader Prof. Kenji Kai) from the Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) of Japan and
Grant of Rakuno Gakuen University Joint Research Project.
The authors would like to thank the RIHS and JSPS supports.

56

References
Batima P., Natsagdorj L., Gombluudev P., Erdenetseteg B.
(2005): Observed climate change in Mongolia. AIACC
Working Paper, 12: 12-16.
Batsaikhan N., Samiya R., Zoephel U., Ganzorig S.,
Amarsaikhan S., Dovchidorj G., Tsogt S. (2001): Spatial
and temporal pattern of Brandt’s vole (Microtus brandti:
Radde, 1861) in the eastern steppe of Mongolia.
Ecosystems of East Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, ADMON, pp.
42-55.
Jaynes E.T. (1957): Information Theory and Statistical
Mechanics. Physical Review, 106: 620-630.
Hashimoto M., Hoshino B., Ganzorig S., Suriga, Matsubara N.,
Saixialt (2012): Evaluation of sustainable development for
Mongolian plateau using behavior pattern of livestock.
Journal of Rakuno Gakuen University, 37(1): 79-85.
Hoshino B., Kaneko M., Matsunaka T., Ishii S., Shimada Y.,
Ono Ch. (2009): A Comparative Study of Pasture
Degradation of Inner Mongolian Fenced and Unfenced
Land Based on Remotely Sensed Data. Journal of Rakuno
Gakuen University, 34(1): 15-22.
Hoshino B., Jiang Z., Liu C., Yoshida T., Halik M., Kaneko M.,
Asakawa M., Motokawa M., Kaji K., Wu H., Ohtaishi N.,
Ganzorig S., Masuda R. (2011): Preliminary study on
migration pattern of the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops
hodgsonii) based on satellite tracking. Advances in Space

Research, 48: 43-48.
Kawashima K., Hoshino B., Ganzorig S., Sawamukai M.,
Asakawa M., Batsaihan N. (2012): Cooperative guild andspatial heterogeneity in habitat of small mammals in themountain steppe of Mongolia. Journal of Rakuno Gakuen
University, 36(2): 357-362.
Kawashima K., Hoshino B., Sawamukai M., Ganzorig S.,
Asakawa M., Batsaikhan N., Augugliaro C. (2013):
Recovery mechanism of grassland due to the ecosystemengineering activity of Brandt’s vole in Mongolian
overgrazing region. Japanese Journal of Grassland
Science, 59(3): 217-222.
Maki T., Isoda H., Morio T., Yamada P., Hatta T., Mingyuan D.,
Wakimizu K. (2012): Outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Diseasein Miyazaki from March to Julu (2010): Effect of yellow
sand and local surface wind. Journal of Arid Land Studies,22(1): 167-170.
Manayeva K., Hoshino B., Ganzorig S., Nakazawa T., Minari
Y., Igota H. (2012): Spatial and temporal distribution of
Tibetan antelope at Hoh Xil National Reserve. Journal of
Rakuno Gakuen University, 36(2): 339-345.
Suriga, Hoshino B., Saixialt, Ganzorig S., Hashimoto M.
(2012): Patterns of grazing behavior of livestock insettlements of Inner Mongolia. Journal of Rakuno Gakuen
University, 36(2): 347-355.
Phillips S.J., Anderson R.P., Schapire R.E. (2006): Maximum
entropy modeling of species geographic distributions. Ecol.
Model., 190: 231-259.