Excursion behaviour of female roe deer may depend on density

The excursion behaviour of roe does was studied for two years in a low density population (ca. 6.5 ind./100 ha), in an Apennine-continental forest of Southern Italy, through satellite radiotracking. During the rutting period, our radiotagged does (N = 6) moved well outside their summer ranges, with an average exploration area eight times greater than summer ranges. The median duration of excursions was 51 h (range: 10–99 h). One female stayed away for a total of 11 days. In order further to understand this behaviour, we reviewed all studies (N = 6) dealing with excursion behaviour of roe does and carried out in areas where population density was assessed through the same method (i.e. drive counts). Out of five ecological parameters included in the analysis, excursion behaviour of roe does was found significantly and negatively associated only to population density: when density was low, the proportion of roaming does increased, probably because of the lower availability of “free” bucks during the short time of female oestrous