Bhattacharjee, D.; Flay, K. J.; Mumby, H. S.; McElligott, A. G.

Seasonality, or temporal shifts between wet and dry seasons, profoundly affects the physiology and behavioural ecology of animals, particularly large herbivores, in (sub-) tropical climatic conditions. Adaptive behavioural strategies are crucial for overcoming challenges associated with seasonality. Group-level strategies to seasonality in the wild have received considerable attention, yet little is known about how large herbivores in human-dominated landscapes respond to seasonal challenges. Moreover, focusing solely on groups can obscure how individual animals of different sexes, ages, and personalities respond. We investigated a feral population of a large ungulate, the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), in semi-urban habitats in Hong Kong. We observed 71 adults during a wet and a dry season. Individual-level body condition was non-invasively assessed to evaluate whether seasonality impacts physiology. To identify adaptive behavioural strategies, we collected data on feeding behaviour (grazing and browsing) and space use (core area and home range). Further, using a subset of our sample (n=30), we investigated the associations between personality and space use in the dry season. Body condition scores were highest during the wet season and then declined during the dry season, indicating an impact of seasonality on the physiology of buffalo. Older individuals were more affected than younger ones. Browsing increased >80-fold during the dry compared to the wet season. While there was no change in core area use, home ranges expanded by at least 1.36 times in the dry compared to the wet season. Regardless of season, females utilised home ranges that were at least >3 times larger than males. Females exhibiting higher \'social tension\' personalities had smaller core areas and home ranges than those with lower social tension. We show that buffalo employ adaptive behavioural strategies, such as altering feeding behaviour and home ranges, to overcome challenges associated with seasonality. We provide evidence that these strategies are contingent on intrinsic factors: sex, age, and personality. Our findings (i) offer insights into the ecological principles --habitat use, resource utilisation, and competition-- that govern the behavioural ecology of large herbivores and (ii) have implications for conservation and welfare in increasingly human-dominated and climate-sensitive landscapes.