A Preliminary Study on the Egg Temperature and Female Incubation Behaviour in Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii) Population in Mulei Xinjiang

From 22 May to 11 June 1999 in the Xinjiang Province of the Peoples Republic of China,the incubating behaviour of two female houbaras with the help of a temperature logger egg was successfully monitored.As a rule,the female showed a bimodal daily activity pattern (morning and evening) during the incubation stage.In average,a female will leave her nest 3 to 9 times every day for periods ranging from 8 to 26 minutes.During incubation,the female spent (94±2)% of her daily time in the nest.The average temperature of the egg varied from 31.9 ℃ to 36.5 ℃ while the female attended the nest; that dropped to (24.9±3.2) ℃ while the female left and unattended the nest.The average daily egg temperature increased from 31.9 ℃ to 36.2 ℃ as the incubation advanced,following the increase in air temperature.