J. Mamm. Soc. Japan 13( 2 ) :133-137 December 1988

SHORT COMMUNICATION

A Note on Fecal and Rumen Contents of White-Tipped Deer on Eastern -Tibet Plateau

Seiki TAKATSUKI*, Noriyuki OHTAISHI1, Koichi KAJI1, Yiping HAN§ and Jiayan WU§

*Biological Institute , Faculty of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980, Japan tDepartment of Anatomy , Faculty of Dentistry, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060, Japan Department of Forestry, Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060, JapanĀ The Northwest Institute of Endangered Zoological Species,

(Accepted August 18, 1988)

Introduction

The white-lipped deer (Cervus albirostris) lives in a range from 4,000 to 5,000 m in elevation of the Qinghai-Tibet (Xizang) Plateau and Qilianshan Area of which the climatic condition is extremely dry and cold. It is interesting to know how this deer has adapted to such an extreme environment. In spite of the ecological and evolutional importance of this deer (Geist, 1971), its life has been unknown for a long period of time. In 1986, however, the China-Japan joint team conducted a preliminary expedition of this deer and collected basic biological information (Ohtaishi, 1988). The team also collected the samples of fecal pel- lets and rumen contents. This paper reports the composition of these samples.

Habitat, Materials and Methods

The team visited the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau covering the eastern Qinghai Province and the northwestern Province (Fig. 1). This area contains the upperstreams of the two biggest rivers in China ; the Hung He

() and Chang Jiang (Long River). It is cool in summer and ex- tremely cold in winter. The mean air temperatures of July and January in Madoi

County are 7.3 and -31•Ž, respectively. The mean annual temperatures in

Madoi and Serxu Counties are -4.4 and -1.6•Ž, respectively. It is also very dry. The annual precipitation is only 283.2 and 569 mm in Madoi and Serxu

Counties, respectively (Han, 1987). The weather changes drastically not only seasonally, but also daily. Most of the area is semi-desert grasslands, alpine meadows or shrubby steppes. Environmental conditions are similar between the three localities where the samples were collected, though minor differences were recongnized between them. The most prevalent plants are graminoids such as Stipa, Elymus, Roeg- neria, Festuca and Kobresia (Cyperaceae) spp., Compositae, Leguminosae, Poli- 134 S. Takatsuki et al.

Fig. 1. Map showing the sampling locations of feces and rumen contents of white-lipped deer.

gonaceae, and Gentianaceae. In the semi-desert grasslands, Gramineae, Cyper- aceae, and Compositae are predominant. In alpine meadows, Kobresia spp. grow abundantly and are accompanied by Gramineae, Compositae, and Polygonaceae. Fecal pellets of white-lipped deer were collected at the following three loca- lities (Fig. 1) : Place 1. One of 3 islets in the western part of Gyaring Lake (4,300 m), Madoi County, Qinghai Province, August 27, 1986.. An open grassland domin- ated by Stipa spp. and Festuca spp. accompanied by Artemisia spp., Leonto- podium spp., Saussurea spp. and Kobresia spp. Place 2. Serxu National Deer Farm (4,000 m), Serxu County, Sichuan Pro- vince, October 19, 1986. An alpine meadow dominated by Elymus spp. and Festuca spp. accompanied by Potentilla sp., Plantago sp. and other grasses. Place 3. Maniganggo (4,100 m), Dege County, Sichuan Province, October 8, 1986. A shrubby grassland dominated by Festuca spp. accompanied by forbs such as Anaphalis spp., Pedicularis spp., Gentiana spp., Saussurea spp. and shrubs such as Rhododendron spp., Berberis sp. and Sabina sp. Two fresh fecal pellets were sampled from each of 20 different dung piles at each place. In addition, rumen contents (165g: one eighth of the total) were sampled from a fawn, accidentally drowned in Gyaring Lake (Place 1) on August Food Habits of White-lippedDeer 135

29, 1986. All the samples were preserved in ethyl alcohol (ca. 60%). Fecal samples were microscopically analyzed by the methods used by Stewart (1967) and Takatsuki (1978). Rumen contents were analyzed by the methods of Lead- er-Williams et al. (1981). Grid points covered by plant fragments were scored, and a 100 count was repeated 4 times for each sample to calculate the average and standard deviation.

Results and Discussion

Table 1 shows the results of the analyses. Fragments were grouped into 7 categories. Graminaids contain the leaves, culms plus sheaths, and flowers plus seeds of Gramineae and Cyperaceae. Dicotyledons contain the leaves and non- leaf parts (stems, twigs and woody fibers) of dicotyledonous plants. •gOthers•h include fruits plus seeds, and miscellaneous (cuticles of invertebrates and uniden- tifiable materials).

In Sample 1, graminoids were the most common and occupied as much as

78.5% of the composition, leaves occupying 31.8%, and culms plus sheaths occupying 46.8%. Other costituents were less important. Dicotyledons accounted for 16.3%, and "others" accounted for only 5.3%. The composition of

Sample 4 which was collected at the same place as Sample 1 was similar to Sample 1, although the methods of analysis were different. The composition of

Sample 2 was also similar to Sample 1 with a graminoid occurrence of 85.3%.

The contribution of dicotyledons to Sample 2 was smallest (9.5%) among all the

Table 1. Dietary composition (%) of white-lipped deer of the eastern Tibetan Plateau. The figures in parentheses indicate the standard deviations. Place numbers correspond to Fig. 1.

* : includes sheaths , culms, stems, twigs and woody fibers. 136 S. Takatsuki et al.

samples. Sample 3 was different from the other 3 samples in composition ; i. e.

graminoids were most common, but its contribution (45.5%) was about half of other samples, significantly less than the others (t-test, P<0.05). On the other

hand, the proportion of dicotyledons, occupying 29.5% of the total,. was signifi-

cantly greater (about two-times) than those of the others It is worth noting that the proportions of high quality leaves were always

smaller than those of the non-leaf parts of low quality in all the samples. For

graminoids in Samples 1, 2, and 4, the proportion of leaves was 30-35%, and culms plus sheaths accounted for 45-50% of the total. In Sample 3, the prop-

ortion of leaves was only 9.8% and the percentage of culms plus sheaths was 35.8%.

In essense, the dietary compositions of the white-lipped deer were pre-

dominated by graminoids, and non-leaf parts occupied great proportions.

Highland steppes are characterized by abundant and uniform supply of gras-

ses in terms of forage availability for ungulates. Grasses, however, are usually low in nutritional quality. Large ungulates are considered to have adapted to these ecosystems to eat nonselectively these grasses by enlarging rumino-

reticulums which are fermentation chambers to digest them (Hofmann, 1973). In

contrast, forests are characterized by browses which are generally scattered in

small amount in the forest floors (Jarman, 1974). Small ungulates which require forages of high quality (Kleiber, 1961) have adapted to these ecosystems. Large

ungulates are called •ggrazers•h or roughage feeders and small ungulates are called

•g browsers•h or concentrate selectors (Hofmann & Stewart, 1972). When we consider the results of this study in light of the grazer-browser gradient, the

white-lipped deer seems to be a typical grazer. This should be confirmed by

more samples of different seasons.

Acknowledgment

This study was financed by a Grant-in-Aid for Overseas Scientific Study

from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (Nos. 61041002 &

62043002), and conducted with the approval of the Ministry of Forestry, People's Republic of China. We wish to thank Mr. Zheng and other staff members of the

Northwest Institute of Endangered Zoological Species, Dr. S. Miura of Hyogo

College of Medicine and Mr. M. Takeda of Hokkaido University for their support and cooperation throughout the survey. Grateful acknowledgment is made to

Mr. J. Qin and Mr. Y. Li of the Forest Protection Department, the Ministry of

Forestry, People's Republic of China, Mr. X. Yuang, the Wildlife Division of

Qinghai Province, Mr. T. Hu, the Wildlife Division of Sichuan Province, for their assistance in this study. Special thanks are due to Mitsubishi Motors, Corpora-

tion for supplying our off-road •gPajero•h.

References

Geist, V. 1971. On the relation of the social evolution and dispersal in ungulates during the Pleis- Food Habits of White-lippedDeer 137

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