Diurna Behavioral Time Budget and Activity Rhythm of Reevese’s Butterfly Lizard under Artificial Breeding condition
Author of the article:WANG Li-jun1, YU Feng-jun2, HONG Mei-ling1,2, WU Shan1, CHEN Xu1
Author's Workplace：（1.Department of Biology, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158; 2. College of Life Sciences, East China Normal University）
Key Words：artificial breeding; Reevese’s butterfly lizard (Leiolepis reevesii); behavior; diurnal time budget; activity rhythm
Abstract：Diurnal behavioral time budget and activity rhythm of Reevese’s butterfly lizard were observed artificial breeding condition, and scanning sampling and all-occurrence recording methods were employed from May 2003 to May 2004. The results indicated that reevese’s butterfly lizard spent the most time in resting under different weather, followed by moving, basking, alert, feeding and others. Resting, moving and basking accounted for 94.73%±0.01%, 3.24%±0.01% and 1.56%±0.01% of diurnal time budget in sunny days respectively, but 97.03%±0.02%, 1.13%±0.01% and 0.89%±0.01% in cloudy days. There were significant differences in moving, alert, resting and basking between sunny and cloudy days (P<0.05), and alert was different between males and females (P<0.05). For the diurnal activity rhythm, the significant differences occurred only in onset and duration of peak periods between sunny and cloudy days. The peak of basking was recorded at 10:00～11:00, moving at 11:00～14:00, and the low value of resting was observed at 10:00～13:00 in sunny days. The peak of basking was recorded at 11:00～12:00, moving at 11:00～15:00, and no obviously low value of resting was observed in cloudy days.