Movement Patterns of Resident and Translocated Beavers at Multiple Spatiotemporal Scales in Desert Rivers

Wildlife translocations alter animal movement behavior, so identifying common patterns post-translocation will help set expectations about behavior in subsequent efforts. American and Eurasian beavers ( Castor canadensis; fiber ) are frequently translocated for reintroductions, to mitigate human-wildlife conflict, as an ecosystem restoration tool. However, little is known of post-release, especially desert rivers with patchy dynamic resources. We identified space-use beaver after translocation. monitored nuisance river sites on the Price San Rafael Rivers, Utah, USA, compared their space use resident tracking both across 2 years. Resident adult (RA) were detected at a mean maximum distance 0.86 ± 0.21 kilometers (km; ±1 SE), while subadult (RS) (11.00 4.24 km), (TA) (19.69 3.76 (TS) (21.09 5.54 km) substantially greater distances. Based coarse-scale models, RS moved farther from release faster than RA up 6 months post-release. In contrast, fine-scale models using 5-min location intervals showed similar median traveled between beavers. Our findings suggest day-to-day activities, such foraging resting, largely unaltered by translocation, but exhibited most dispersal RSs. Coarse-scale rates decreased time since release, suggesting that adjusted novel environment over eventually settled into home range Understanding response system can future beaver-assisted efforts identify appropriate strategies.