It is important to know approximately how far mice travel in one night.
The distances traveled between captures on successive nights were
calculated for all mice. Even animals caught most frequently usually
were caught only once or twice on successive nights. Data from animals
caught less than four times, and hence not usable for calculations of
home range, could be used in calculating the distance between captures
on successive nights. Thus the data were sampled in a more or less
random manner for each species.
The mean distance traveled between captures on successive nights was
determined for adult and non-adult animals (juvenile, young and
subadult) of both sexes. Adult males of _P. maniculatus_ traveled an
average of 151.66 feet (n = 24); young males of this species traveled an
average of 134.28 feet (n = 7). Adult females of _P. maniculatus_
traveled 170.00 feet (n = 4); no data were available for young females.
Adult males of _P. truei_ traveled an average of 169.47 feet (n = 38);
and young males traveled 159.44 feet (n = 18). Adult females of this
species traveled 155.71 feet between captures (n = 35), while young
females traveled 140.66 feet (n = 15).
The means were tested for differences in the distances traveled between
young and adult males and between young and adult females of each
species, as well as between males and between females of opposite
species. In all cases, there were no demonstrable differences in the
distance traveled between captures.
One of the more striking journeys between captures was that of number
59, a juvenal male of _P. maniculatus_, which traveled 1,070 feet
between captures on July 16 and 17, 1963. The route between the two
capture sites was over the most rugged part of the trapping grid. This
datum was excluded from further calculations. The only other animal that
approached this distance was a young female _P. truei_ that traveled 750
feet between captures.
Figure 3 shows the distribution of distances traveled by mice of each
species between successive captures. Since there were no demonstrable
differences between age groups or sexes in the distances traveled, these
data represent a composite of the ages and sexes of each species. They
show 101-125 feet to be the most prevalent of the distances traveled by
both species, and 51-75 feet to have a higher percentage of occurrence
among _P. maniculatus_. These distances indicate that if an animal was
trapped on successive nights, it tended to be trapped within the same
unit of the grid. It would have been necessary for an animal to travel
200 feet or more in order to be caught in traps in an adjoining unit of
the grid.
The distance between captures also was calculated by the more customary
method of averaging the distances between sites of capture, regardless
of the time intervening between captures.
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