In spite of the studies carried out for several decades on Galemys pyrenaicus, no paper has specifically estimated desman densities, although indirect information can be inferred from the studies in the French Pyrenees on the use of space by Stone & Gorman (1985) and Stone (1987a).

On 3 September 1996, B. Neill, investigating the peculiar behaviour of three ravens, found them disputing over a freshly dead dolphin stranded on the shore at Bornish, South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland (National Grid ref: NF 721 300). Neither he nor M. Bones, who collected the skeleton, could immediately identify the dolphin, despite having seen most of the species recorded around the Western Isles, although we suggested that it might be an Atlantic white-sided dolphin Lagenorhynchus acutus with an aberrant colour pattern.

Tagged, captive-bred mountain gazelles were released into Hawtah Reserve, Saudi Arabia. More than 1 year after they were freed, their drinking behaviour at two water troughs was recorded for 2.5 months during late summer/autumn, using automatic cameras and monitors triggered when an infra-red beam was broken. Only 30% of gazelles (n = 40) were recorded drinking and only individuals which lived close to troughs drank. No gazelles visited the one natural water point. Among gazelles which lived close to the troughs, older individuals were more likely to drink than younger animals. The noise of the cameras as they took a photograph frightened some gazelles and may have influenced their frequency of drinking after they were photographed for the first time.