Takin (Budorcas spp.) Fact Sheet: Behavior & Ecology

• Daily pattern of herd of 300 takins at 3,000 m (9843 ft): (Bailey 1912) cited in Neas & Hoffman (1987):
  • Spent nights in or near a hot spring, drinking and browsing on trees
  • Spend days in dense vegetative cover; come into open spaces only in cloudy or foggy weather
• In Sichuan and Gansu Provinces, China, Sichuan takins (B. t. tibetana) don't forage midday (Schaller 1986)
  • Change pattern in seasons of scarcity and are also active midday
  • When ground covered with snow, rest standing, bodies turned broadside to sun

Migration

•  Move seasonally up and down slope (Schaller 1977)
  • Golden takin (B. t. bedfordi) migrates 4 times up and down slope between seasons in Quinling Mountains, China (Zeng 2008)
    • Summer: at highest attitude (more than 2,300 m or 7,546 ft)
    • Spring: at lowest altitude
    • Autumn: intermediate - higher than spring, lower than winter
    • Winter: also intermediate - but slightly higher than autumn
    • Pattern unusual in that animals move higher (rather than lower) than autumn during winter
    • Perhaps go upwards in winter to reach sunny slopes free of snow (Neas & Hoffmann 1987)
  • Sichuan takin (B. t. tibetana) move between low valleys and high forests (Schaller 1986)
    • Low valleys: late Sept. until April
    • Forest above valleys: summer into autumn
  • Follow well worn paths in search of salt and perhaps other minerals. (Neas & Hoffmann 1987)

• Takins are gregarious
  • Rare for forest dwelling ungulates to have sociality
  • European Bison (Bison bonasus) are another example of a social forest-dweller
• Takins form unstable social groups, according to radio-collar tracking of golden takins (B. t. bedfordi) (Zeng et al 2002)
  • Core social unit is adult females with offspring of more than one generation
  • Females occupy 98% of all groups
  • More than half of takins observed were found in groups of 15 or more
  • Older males usually solitary until rutting season
  • Male groups often observed for Sichuan takins (B. t. tibetana) but not golden takins (B. t. bedfordi)
• Schaller (1986) observed groups of 10-35 Sichuan takin, up to 100 individuals at times
• Males in managed care dominant over females; females have dominate/subordinate relationships (Castillo 1993)
  • Dominant male, females, and calves live together with little conflict in managed care

Displays (Schaller 1977)

• Males may sit like dogs
  • Similar sitting posture by mountain goats occurs after digging pits into which they urinate and defecate during rutting season
  • Takins not yet observed digging rutting pits
• Head-down posture used often by males and females to threaten
  • Behavior also seen in mountain goats and tahrs
• Intention to fight signaled:
  • Neck held rigidly horizontally
  • Head and horns hooked to side
  • May spar head to head (Estes 1959)
• Members of the social goat/antelopes have wide repertoire of visual displays (Schaller 1986)
  • Social life depends on communication
  • Flexibility of these displays aids precise message-sending
  • Visual displays quite important for such non-vocal animals.

Vocalization

• Utter a hoarse cough when alarmed or giving a warning
• Low bellowing during rut
• Other sounds:
  • Snort
  • Deep bugle-like note
  • Loud whistle through nose

Olfaction/Scent Marking

•  Males and possibly females spray themselves with urine (Schaller 1977)
  • Males spray own forelegs, chest, and face
  • Females soak their tails
  • Pheromones in urine possibly convey sexual status and identity
• Male licks female ano-genital region to detect estrus status (Neas & Hoffmann 1987)

• Animals hook the air with horns and butt head to head. (Schaller 1977)

• Not known

Play

•  Young frolic (Castillo 1990)
  • Jump straight into air, all four feet off ground
  • Leap forward off back limbs, front limbs tucked
  • Head butt

• Snow leopards (Panthera pardus) may feed on young takins, but not adults (Schaller 1977)
• Asiatic wild dogs (Cuon alpinus) may be predators also. (Schaller 1986)
• Potential predators: Asiatic black bear (Ursus tibetanus), common leopard (Panthera pardus), perhaps tiger (Panthera tigris), wolf (Canis lupus)
• Sichuan takins occupy habitats favored by giant pandas in Tangjiahe Natural Reserve, Sichuan Province, China (Schaller 1986)
  • Even though bamboo is readily available, takins consume little
• Golden takins coexist with giant pandas, golden monkeys, serows, gorals, forest musk deer, black bear and leopards in Shaanxi Province, China at Foping Nature Reserve. (Zeng et al 2002)
• Tufted deer (Elaphodus) and muskdeer (Moschus) occupy same habitats (Schaller 1986)
• Probably compete with bharal (Pseudois nayaur), serow (Capricornis) and goral (Nemorhaedus) (Neas & Hoffmann 1987)

(Neas & Hoffmann 1987)

• Walk with head low, swaying from side to side.
• Normally slow and deliberate movements
  • Climb sheer rocky areas slowly
  • Can leap nimbly on rough slopes
  • Don't "spring" like mountain goats
• Sleep with front feet extended, head resting atop, like dogs.
• Run for short distance and resume feeding when disturbed
• Excellent climbers

Takin are gregarious, forming groups of 15 individuals or more.

Here we see a calf, juvenile, and two adults.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Bailey (1912)
Neas & Hoffmann (1987)
Schaller (1977, 1986)
Zeng et al. (2002)