Intraspecific male combat behaviour predicts morphology of cervical vertebrae in ruminant mammals

Abby Vander Linden, E. Dumont
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引用次数: 12

Abstract

Cranial weapons of all shapes and sizes are common throughout the animal kingdom and are frequently accompanied by the evolution of additional traits that enhance the use of those weapons. Bovids (cattle, sheep, goats, antelope) and cervids (deer) within the mammal clade Ruminantia are particularly well known for their distinct and varied cranial appendages in the form of horns and antlers, which are used as weapons in intraspecific combat between males for access to mates. Combat in these species takes many forms, including head-on collisions (ramming); stabbing an opponent's head or body with horn tips (stabbing); rearing and clashing downwards with horns (fencing); or interlocking antlers or horns while vigorously pushing and twisting (wrestling). Some aspects of weapon and skull morphology have been linked to combat behaviours in bovid and cervid species, but the contribution of postcranial structures that support these weapons, such as the neck, has not been explored. To investigate the role of the neck in intraspecific combat, we quantified biomechanically relevant linear variables of the cervical vertebrae (C1–C7) from males and females of 55 ruminant species. We then used phylogenetic generalized least-squares regression to assess differences among species that display primarily ramming, stabbing, fencing and wrestling combat styles. In males, we found that wrestlers have longer vertebral centra and longer neural spines than rammers, stabbers or fencers, while rammers have shorter and wider centra and taller neural spine lever arms. These results suggest a supportive role for the cervical vertebrae in resisting forces generated by male–male combat in ruminant mammals and indicate that evolutionary forces influencing cranial weapons also play a role in shaping the supporting anatomical structures.
种内雄性战斗行为预测反刍哺乳动物颈椎形态
各种形状和大小的头盖骨武器在动物王国中很常见,并且经常伴随着其他特征的进化,从而增强了这些武器的使用。反刍动物分支中的牛科动物(牛、绵羊、山羊、羚羊)和鹿科动物(鹿)以其独特而多样的头颅附属物而闻名,这些附属物以角和角的形式出现,在雄性之间的种内战斗中被用作武器,以获得配偶。这些物种的战斗形式多种多样,包括正面碰撞(冲撞);用角尖刺对方的头部或身体(刺);直立的,用角向下碰撞(围栏);或在大力推动和扭转(摔跤)时将鹿角或角联锁。武器和头骨形态的某些方面与牛科和子科物种的战斗行为有关,但支持这些武器的后颅结构(如颈部)的贡献尚未得到探索。为了研究颈部在种内战斗中的作用,我们量化了55种反刍动物雄性和雌性颈椎(C1-C7)的生物力学相关线性变量。然后,我们使用系统发育广义最小二乘回归来评估主要表现为撞击,刺伤,击剑和摔跤战斗风格的物种之间的差异。在男性中,我们发现摔跤手比锤击手、刺击手或击剑手有更长的椎体中心和更长的神经棘,而锤击手的椎体中心更短更宽,神经棘杠杆臂更高。这些结果表明,在反刍哺乳动物中,颈椎在抵抗雄性-雄性战斗中产生的力量方面发挥了支持作用,并表明影响颅骨武器的进化力量也在形成支持解剖结构方面发挥了作用。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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