Daily and seasonal movements of the quokka, setinux brachyurus (Marsupialia), on Rottnest Island

Abstract

The changes in the home ranges and the movements of individual quokkas were studied using radio-telemetry. In all, 27 individuals were tracked and located 526 times, between 27 February 1967 and 27 May 1968. There were large differences in the behaviour of individuals. The variety of daytime shelter sites, and of nocturnal feeding locations, are described. An individual returned daily to the same or nearby sites for most of the year. During May and June some individuals changed their diurnal shelter by more than 400 m from the site used most of the year. For any individual the nocturnal and diurnal areas were adjacent for most of the year. In the dry season (November-April) the size of the feeding area increased, and in some cases between February and June it changed completely to an area more than 400 m from the usual diurnal shelter. The direction of this change and that of the diurnal site (if it occurred) were the same for any individual. The changes in the areas occupied and in the animals' movements were explicable in terms of the distribution of vegetation, which provides shelter from the weather, and seasonal changes in food plants. It was neither necessary nor possible to postulate social factors to account for the animals' distribution.