Winter circadian activity pattern of free-ranging coypus in the Parana River Delta, eastern Argentina

During August 1990, 3 male and 3 female coypus Myocastor coypus (Molina, 1782) were radiotracked for 42 24-h periods at the Delta of Paraná River, Argentina. Coypus were mainly nocturnal, with activity peaks around one hour after sunset and two hours before sunrise. Movement rate peaked between 02.00 and 04.00 o'clock. This pattern is similar to that observed in captive individuals and introduced feral popu­lations. Among 7 environmental factors (day period, temperature, wind, cloud cover, and presence or absence of moon, fog, and rain) only period of day and rainfall during daylight were found significantly related to coypu activity, but no environmental factor influenced coypu nocturnal rate of movement.