Home ranges of two wolf packs in the Slovak Carpathians

Movements, home-range size and habitat use of the European wolf (Canis lupus) are described in the Slovak Carpathians. The study was carried out in 1994-2002 in two national parks of central Slovakia. In the Tatry National Park we monitored for 11 months an adult male associated with a pack of 7. In the Nizke Tatry National Park we radio-tracked an adult female for 82 months (1995-2002). Over the course of the study the pack size in the Nizke Tatry ranged from 2 to 7 members. In this park the most intensive telemetry was conducted from 1996 to1997 when the radio-tagged female reared her offspring. Home - ranges of radio-collared wolves calculated for the whole period of radio - tracking (MCP with 100 % of observations) were 146 km 2 (male) and 191 km 2 (female), respectively. Extraterritorial forays were not observed. Core areas of the home - ranges estimated by the Kernel method (50 % of locations), were small (21 km 2 : male; 28 km 2 : female) and overlapped mainly with the forest habitats heavily used by red deer (Cervus elaphus). The size of territory used in summer was 24 % - 49 % smaller than in winter.