Home Range and Habitat Selection of Feral Horses (<i>Equus ferus</i> f. <i>caballus</i>) in a Mountainous Environment: A Case Study from Northern Greece
Dimitrios E. Bakaloudis,
Charalambos T. Thoma,
Konstantina N. Makridou,
Evangelos G. Kotsonas,
Georgios Arsenos,
Alexandros Theodoridis,
Vasileios Kontsiotis
Affiliations
Dimitrios E. Bakaloudis
Laboratory of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 241, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Charalambos T. Thoma
Laboratory of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 241, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Konstantina N. Makridou
Laboratory of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 241, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Evangelos G. Kotsonas
Laboratory of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 241, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Georgios Arsenos
Laboratory of Animal Husbandry, School of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Alexandros Theodoridis
Laboratory of Livestock Production Economics, School of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Vasileios Kontsiotis
Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Democritus University of Thrace, 661 00 Drama, Greece
The spatial ecology of feral horses (Equus ferus f. caballus) in Greece has never been studied before, including home range size and habitat selection. We tracked two mares fitted with global positioning system collars between September 2020 and August 2021 in a portion of Mount Menoikio in Central Macedonia, Northern Greece. We used K-select analysis to assess habitat selection for the study period by combining location data with several environmental variables. The mean home ranges for horses varied from 26.72 km2 (95% Minimum Convex Polygon; SE = 0.442) to 27.84 km2 (95% Kernel Density; SE = 1.83). Both horses selected areas with flat and smooth topography near natural grasslands with high green productivity. Conversely, they avoided areas near broadleaved forests and pastures, as well as at north-facing aspects. Overall, suitable habitats corresponded to a small portion (15.1%) of the available habitat. Our findings could assist land managers in mapping primary horses’ habitat in the wider region and implement management regimes that will aid in preserving natural grasslands.
