CJreat Basin Naturalist52; m)-i 25-28 EFFECT OF REARING METHOD OX CIIUKAR SI:R\'1\AL BartclT. Slaiidi laii \. I*lin |a\ A. Roherson' , and X. I'nil |( — AUSTHACT, Suni\alnl adult cliukar-iuiprintcd.>j;anic tarui isil)liii'hnkars .Adnlt-imprinted C'hnkars (Ihnkars (same genetic stock as the adult- (;hukar (;ggs were expensed dming the final imprinted birds) xxere rai.sed at the Utah Dixi- wxoecealkizoaftioinnsc.ubTahteiornectoordriencgos,rdferdomadtuhlet(cChoirineklalr sion ofW ildlife Resources (DWR) C^ame Farm in Springxille, Utali, underconxentional meth- LaboratoiA of ()rnitliolog\ Libran of Natural ods (broock'd in l)ox-tx]-)e brooders, fed and Sounds, appeared to fit the descri])tion of (he watered xxith humau conlacl [sibling/hnman- \"oraclallyiczaaltli"odnessocfriinbceudb1a)t\-iSntgookresbr(o1o9d6i1n)g(rheec(n)c\dh(.n(-1 xixmeperkisntoefd]a,ge)a.ntl moxcd into ni second studv site was the Sterling mortalits'. Immediatelv following demise ofcap- IIollowA\ind Rock Ridge areaofSpanish Fork ti\e-rearedbirds,wildbirdsbegan tobekilled. C1a4n7y0omn.toT3h0is57amr,eaanrdantgheesdoimninelaenvtateicoonlogfircoaml thAedgurleta-tiemsptrifenatredreasnpdonwsieldtboirhdusmdaenmopnrsetsreantcee,d t)pe is mountain brush. Annual precipitation whereas game farm birds tolerated approach. a\erages between 38.8 cm and 52 cm. Average These findings correspond with those of y-e3a0rlCy,hirgehspeacntdi\lelo\w.temperatures are 40 C and CsenneK' et al. (1983), who found that red- legged partridges {Alectoris nifa) displaved On 25 September 1989 (release II), 1 1 birds greaterfearresponse towardhumanswhen iso- Ironi each group were radio-marked and lated from them during imprinting. The flight- released at site II. Captive-reared groups were ier behaxior of the adult-imprinted chukars 21 weeks old. Mortalit) was recorded daiK for would likeK' proxide more hunting sport than t^\'()weeks, then weekK thereafter. game farm birds but did not offer sufficient Statistical AuaUsis suivixal ad\antage under the existing predator j)r("ssur('. Data were anaKy.ed using a Product limit Adult-imprinted birds appareiitK had a (Kaplan-Meier) estimator; a k)g rank test was behaxioral adxantage overthe game farm birds used to compare sunixal cui-ves (Pollock et al. tliat was not ex|oressed in release 1 but was 1989).Onl) radio-markt>dbirdswerecompared demonstrat(Hl at release II, apparentK due to sincetheirobsenationwasnotbiasedb\ ea.seof lowerprcxlator pressure. Wildchukar m()rtalit^• approach and proximit)- to release site. was similar forreleases I and II. 19921 CiiikAH 1U:ari.\(; 27 RELEASE RELEASE II Adultimprinted O Gamefarm A Wild RELEASE ALL RELEASES — Fig. 1.ChiikarsunivalprohahilitN cuncs: i 1i release I (Aiitt-lope Islainl. SAugust-15Noveniher 19S9) nodifference ((PSph-

EFFECT OF REARING METHOD ON CHUKAR SURVIVAL

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