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Sambar Showed Less Daily Activity Overlap With Cattle Than Wild Boar in Western Sichuan

Sambar stag standing near wild boars in Ranthambore National Park
Research · Ecology

A two-year camera-trap study in Xinlong County in western Sichuan, China found that sympatric wild ungulates differed markedly in how their daily activity overlapped with livestock. Sambar (Rusa unicolor) showed low overlap with cattle, with an overlap coefficient of 0.44, while wild boar (Sus scrofa) showed moderate overlap at 0.69.

The researchers accumulated 73,942 camera-days in 2022–2023 and recorded 11 wild ungulate species. Eight with sufficient data were included in the main analyses. Sambar produced 1,357 independent camera records and wild boar 985. Cattle were much more frequently recorded than horses and were active mainly during the warm season from May to October.

Sambar and wild boar also differed around horses

The two species also differed in their overlap with horses. Sambar had moderate daily overlap with horses at 0.53, whereas wild boar had high overlap at 0.77. Their spatial relationships did not mirror those temporal differences. In the occupancy models, a species interaction factor (SIF) below 1 indicates less co-occurrence than expected, a value of 1 indicates spatial independence, and values above 1 indicate more co-occurrence than expected. Sambar was spatially independent of both cattle and horses, whereas wild boar showed a slight preference for co-occurrence with cattle (SIF 1.08) and was spatially independent of horses. Across the habitat models, elevation, distance to temples, precipitation in the coldest quarter and distance to settlements were the main variables shaping potentially suitable habitat. Responses varied strongly among species: blue sheep and Chinese serow showed spatial preference for co-occurrence with horses, whereas forest musk deer avoided horses. Blue sheep nevertheless showed the strongest overall response to livestock because its habitat suitability declined as livestock activity increased.

Livestock effects differed among wild ungulates

The authors interpret the results as evidence that grazing may affect wild ungulates in Xinlong, but not in a uniform way. They note that occupancy patterns provide indirect evidence of interspecific interactions and can also reflect other ecological factors. In a landscape with a long history of pastoralism, the study indicates that different ungulates use different combinations of space and time in relation to cattle and horses.

Sources and image credit

  1. Liu, J., Chen, X., Jin, Y., Tian, T., Pan, H., & Yang, B. (2026). The impact of livestock on the spatiotemporal activity of ungulates in western Sichuan, China. Diversity, 18(4), 227. https://doi.org/10.3390/d18040227Primary open-access research article published 14 April 2026 under CC BY 4.0. The study accumulated 73,942 camera-days in Xinlong County during 2022–2023 and analysed eight wild ungulates. Sambar had daily activity-overlap coefficients of 0.44 with cattle and 0.53 with horses; wild boar had coefficients of 0.69 and 0.77, respectively. The authors report species-specific spatial and temporal responses to livestock and identify blue sheep as showing the strongest overall response.

Image: Bernard DUPONT — sambar stag with wild boars in Ranthambore National Park, India; Wikimedia Commons / Flickr; representative image of the two focal wild species, not animals from the Sichuan study · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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Ecology

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Wild Boar Sus scrofa Explore species Sambar Rusa unicolor Explore species

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