高山兀鹫繁殖期交配及筑巢行为初步观察

Observation of the Mating and Nesting Behavior of Himalayan Vulture(Gyps himalayensis) during the Breeding Period

高山兀鹫（Gyps himalayensis）在海拔2 400-4 800 m的悬崖峭壁之上营巢,行为观测难度较大,资料匮缺。2013年至2015年,在天山采用样线调查法、问卷调查法,寻找到上百个巢穴。通过布设红外自动相机的方法,对高山兀鹫繁殖期巢内行为进行拍摄,同时结合焦点动物取样法和瞬时扫描法,对其交配及巢内行为进行观察和研究。共拍摄11万张照片,选出有效照片2 150张。对繁殖期行为进行了描述和定义,共7大类16种行为。根据照片逐一对比每种行为,统计各种行为拍摄张数及所占比例,其中,交配135张（6.3%）,筑巢403张（18.7%）,休息420张（19.5%）,警戒375张（17.4%）,保养335张（15.6%）,运动200张（9.3%）,其他282张（13.1%）。照片记录显示,交配行为从1月16日持续到3月2日,在一天的8：00-16：00时间段内,除9：00-10：00时没有记录到交配行为外,其余时间段内都有发生。交配行为次数（张数）在13：00-14：00时达到高峰,与气温同期达到高峰。交配过程持续8-15 s。筑巢期间,巢材由雌雄兀鹫运输,雌性负责将巢材放入巢中,整理、铺垫和修缮。筑巢行为在白天有三个高峰期,分别为11：00-12：00时、13：00-14：00时和15：00-16：00时。在每个高峰期后,往往出现一个短暂的低谷期。冬季食物短缺,照片显示雕鸮（Bubo bubo）、雪豹（Uncia uncia）等食肉动物进入巢内,对兀鹫繁殖造成干扰,甚至中断繁殖。作为高原健康指示物种,高山兀鹫生存状况不容乐观,急需加强保护。

As one of the scavengers of Old World vultures,the Himalayan vulture（Gyps himalayensis） is an almost endemic species to China and it is known as the holy eagle for the celestial burial of Tibetan people.The bird prefers to nest on the high cliffs（from 2 400 m to 4 800 m altitude） and it is difficult to study its breeding behaviors.A lack of basic natural history information of the Himalayan vulture limits our ability to take conservation measures.Therefore,we search about hundred nests by the line survey and questionnaire methods in Tianshan Mts,Xinjiang,China.To monitor the mating and other nest behavior of Himalayan Vulture,we set camera traps near nests during the breeding period from 2013 to 2015.The focal sampling method and instantaneous scanning sampling method were also used.About 110 thousands photos were taken by the cameras and we selected 2 150 valid photos for analysis.Each photo was carefully examined to summarize the percentage of each type of behavior.As many as 16 behaviors under 7 categories were described and defined during the breeding period,including mating（135,6.3%）,nesting（403,18.7%）,resting（420,19.5%）,alerting（375,17.4%）,maintain（335,15.6%）,locomotion（200,9.3%） and some other behaviors（282,13.1%）.The process of mating behavior lasted 8﹣15 s（Fig.1）.The mating behavior lasted from 16 January to 2 March for these three years and occurred at any time from 8：00 to 16：00 except for 9：00 to 10：00,and it reached the peak at the time from 13：00﹣14：00,with temperature also being the daily summit（Fig.2）.During the nesting period,nesting material was brought both by males and females（Fig.1）,and all nesting materials were arranged by the females.The peaks of nest building behavior occurred at 11：00﹣12：00,13：00﹣14：00 and 15：00﹣16：00 with each peak followed by a short trough（Fig.3）.Probably due to the food shortage in our study area during the breeding season,other predators were photo trapped to be the vulture nests,such as the eagle owl（Bubo bubo） and snow leopard（Uncia uncia）,which made big disturbance and even failure to their reproduction.We suggest some urgent conservation measures,such as to prevent of being poisoned by diclofenac medicines,to protect the local habitat,should be carried out to ensure the population of this endangered scavenger species living sustainably on the plateau.