We investigated by snow tracking and GPS telemetry how wolves Canis lupus used a dense (4 km/km 2 ) network of forest roads for travel and scent marking. Forty-six percent of wolf trails but only 4.6% of telemetry locations were on forest roads. Wolves used forest roads to travel fast and far across their home ranges but spent relatively little time on roads, especially on those with high traffic levels and during the time of highest human activity. The probability of scent marking was higher on roads than off-road and increased with traffic intensity on roads and close to junctions. Our findings suggest that wolves take advantage of the forest road infrastructure, while minimising human encounters by spatio-temporal avoidance of all roads, even those with negligible traffic. The ongoing expansion and improvements of the forest road network might lead to elevated costs for wolves associated with avoidance of humans and roads.

中文翻译：

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机遇与危险：狼群如何利用密集的森林道路网络

我们通过雪地跟踪和 GPS 遥测技术调查了狼犬狼疮如何使用密集的 (4 km/km 2 ) 森林道路网络进行旅行和气味标记。46% 的狼迹，但只有 4.6% 的遥测位置在森林道路上。狼使用森林道路快速、远距离穿越它们的家园，但在道路上花费的时间相对较少，尤其是在交通量大和人类活动最频繁的地区。道路上气味标记的概率高于越野，并且随着道路上和靠近路口的交通强度而增加。我们的研究结果表明，狼利用森林道路基础设施，同时通过时空避开所有道路，即使是交通量可忽略不计的道路，最大限度地减少人类遭遇。