acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-05-10DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00421-9
Anna Bernátková, Francisco Ceacero, Ganbaatar Oyunsaikhan, Dalaitseren Sukhbaatar, Jaroslav Šimek, Martina Komárková
{"title":"Novel observation of play behaviour between a harem holder and a bachelor group of Przewalski’s horses in the wild","authors":"Anna Bernátková, Francisco Ceacero, Ganbaatar Oyunsaikhan, Dalaitseren Sukhbaatar, Jaroslav Šimek, Martina Komárková","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00421-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00421-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2>Abstract\u0000</h2><div><p>Przewalski’s horses live in stable nonterritorial families (harem) of one or more harem stallions, several mares, and their offspring. The harem stallion typically behaves aggressively towards any male intruder approaching the harem. Play behaviour is frequently observed among the group members in horses. For stallions, the most common, well-known cases of play behaviour are found between members of bachelor groups (groups of young stallions) and between the harem stallion and his offspring. The play between the harem stallion and members of the bachelor groups is, on the other hand, seemingly much rarer as a description of such events in the literature is anecdotal. In this note, we present our observation conducted in the Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area (Mongolia) and describe the play behaviour between a Przewalski’s horse harem stallion and members of a bachelor group. The observation was done as a part of broader research during which selected Przewalski’s horses’ groups were located by binoculars in daily monitoring routines and filmed from a close distance (from 150 to 800 m). Behavioural Observation Research Interactive Software (BORIS) was used to extract data from the video recordings. The observation described in this note lasted for ∼ 180 min, during which the horses engaged in three separate bouts of play and repeated inter-group association. During the whole study (241.5 h of video recordings), this was the only observation including inter-group interactions. We observed two other events during which two harems approached each other (but never merged). Our observation is the first video recording of such an event and raises the question of how prevalent this behaviour is in the Przewalski’s horses’ restored natural populations. We conclude that this behaviour is unusual or has not been sufficiently studied in wild or feral harems. Further technological advances may help reveal more information on this topic.</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 2","pages":"145 - 150"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10211-023-00421-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48429975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-05-09DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00423-7
Matías Villagrán, Mariana Ceva, Ariane Machiñena, Mariana Perdomo, Lucas Berro, Cesar Echaides, Juan Pablo Damián
{"title":"Correction to: The environment matters: season and female contact affect the behavior of captive Addax nasomaculatus male antelope","authors":"Matías Villagrán, Mariana Ceva, Ariane Machiñena, Mariana Perdomo, Lucas Berro, Cesar Echaides, Juan Pablo Damián","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00423-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00423-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 2","pages":"119 - 120"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43029389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-05-06DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00420-w
Ana Golubović, Vukašin Bjelica, Ana Štih Koren
{"title":"Differences in locomotor performances between two sympatric species of freshwater turtles","authors":"Ana Golubović, Vukašin Bjelica, Ana Štih Koren","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00420-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00420-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Animals whose ecological niches largely overlap within a habitat can get into intra-specific and/or inter-specific competition for some of the limited resources available. We hypothesise that differences in locomotor abilities might be a key component deciding which individual will gain the resource, especially in animals with limited agility, such as turtles. To address this hypothesis, we tested self-righting ability and releasing from a vegetation alike rope in two sympatric populations of turtles: <i>Emys orbicularis</i> and <i>Mauremys rivulata</i>. All individuals managed to complete the tests promptly (≤ 103 s). When overturned on their carapace, <i>E. orbicularis</i> had shorter inspecting time, as well as overturning time, indicating slight advantage in self-righting. On the other hand, both species were equally efficient to release from a rope attached to the front of their plastron. The inter-specific morphological differences indicate that muscular strength might be a good predictor of competitive relations among syntopic turtle species.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 2","pages":"133 - 137"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43115216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-05-06DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00422-8
Lisa M. Schulte, Yannis König
{"title":"Experimental evidence that toe-tapping behavior in the green-and-black poison frog (Dendrobates auratus) is related to prey detection","authors":"Lisa M. Schulte, Yannis König","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00422-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00422-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Toe-tapping, the quick movement of the middle toes of the hind legs, has been observed in many frogs and toads, and is usually associated with feeding, calling, or courtship behaviors. While plenty of observations of toe-tapping exist for different species, experimental evidence regarding the stimuli triggering this behavior is almost non-existent. Here, we systematically tested the influence of different stimuli on the toe-tapping behavior in the green-and-black poison frog (<i>Dendrobates auratus</i>, Dendrobatidae) from a captive colony in the Zoo Frankfurt. We found that, compared to a control, both big and small prey animals (crickets and fruit flies) elicited much more toe-tapping behavior, and that toe-tapping was positively correlated to feeding events. Playback advertisement calls in contrast did not trigger toe-tapping. We further showed that also juvenile frogs already toe-tap, but less frequently than adults. Our results support the observation-based data that toe-tapping is associated with hunting behaviors. While the auditory part of courtship does not seem to trigger toe-tapping, experimental evidence regarding visual and/or tactile courtship stimuli is still lacking.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 2","pages":"139 - 143"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10211-023-00422-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48675450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-04-06DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00419-3
Matías Villagrán, Mariana Ceva, Ariane Machiñena, Mariana Perdomo, Lucas Berro, Cesar Echaides, Juan Pablo Damián
{"title":"The environment matters: season and female contact affect the behavior of captive Addax nasomaculatus male antelope","authors":"Matías Villagrán, Mariana Ceva, Ariane Machiñena, Mariana Perdomo, Lucas Berro, Cesar Echaides, Juan Pablo Damián","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00419-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00419-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The addax antelope (<i>Addax nasomaculatus</i>) is a species under serious threat of extinction, as it is more abundant in captivity than in the wild. However, little is known about its basic biology. The aims of this study were to determine how locomotor, feeding, aggressive, marking, and sexual behavior of male addax allocated in all-male groups vary with season and with female contact (i.e., biostimulation). The study was conducted in captive conditions, in two groups of adult males: one with no-physical contact with females, aside from visual and olfactory interactions (CF group, <i>n</i> = 4), and another group completely isolated from females (IF group, <i>n</i> = 4). The frequency of behaviors was recorded during the daytime, 4 days per season (total time of observation = 256 h). Lying, standing, walking, aggressive, marking, grazing, and ruminating behaviors as well as water and supplement consumptions varied with season (all <i>p</i> < 0.05). The lying, walking, marking, grazing, and ruminating behaviors were more frequently observed for CF than IF males (all <i>p</i> < 0.05). Also, all behaviors, except for marking, varied with the interaction between the group and seasons (all <i>p</i> < 0.05). Sexual behavior was extremely scarce, so it was not possible to analyze how it varied with seasons and the group. The present study suggests that management program and housing conditions, especially in ex situ breeding plans, should consider the influence of the season and the sociosexual context on the behavior of addax males.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 2","pages":"109 - 117"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50010329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-03-23DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00418-4
Hayato Takada
{"title":"Unique spatial behavior of the Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus) in the open mountains of Mt. Fuji","authors":"Hayato Takada","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00418-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00418-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The Japanese serow (<i>Capricornis crispus</i>) exhibits spatial behavior adapted to forest habitats with relatively stable food supply and climatic conditions, such as sedentary habits, small home ranges, and little seasonal variation in habitat selection. However, investigations have not previously been conducted in open mountainous habitats with high seasonal variability. Therefore, I examined spatial behavior of the Japanese serow in an open mountainous region of Mt. Fuji, central Japan, based on GPS location data. These mountain-dwelling serows had much larger annual home ranges (female: 316.5 ha, male: 373.1 ha) compared with forest-dwelling populations. Spring and summer home range sizes were the largest, and winter home range size was the smallest, ranging from 20.3%–56.1% of maximum. Limited forage and harsh climatic conditions in winter seemed to drive such energy-minimizing behavioral strategies. Selection of vegetation types and elevation varied seasonally, likely because of changes in forage availability and climate conditions. These spatial behaviors in mountain-dwelling serows resemble those of several related mountain ungulates, implying that these behaviors are adaptations to highly seasonal open mountainous habitats. My findings suggest that the main factors affecting spatial behavior are habitat characteristics, such as climate, forage abundance, and seasonality. These findings provide support for an ecological pattern in ungulate spatial behavior whereby closed habitats promote small and stable home ranges, whereas open habitats promote large and seasonally fluctuating home ranges.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 2","pages":"127 - 132"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47693832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-03-11DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00416-6
Henrique Cardoso Delfino
{"title":"Individual features influence the choice to attack in the southern lapwing Vanellus chilensis, but the opponent type dictates how the interaction goes","authors":"Henrique Cardoso Delfino","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00416-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00416-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The fight or flight decision (i.e., engage in or evade from an interaction) is one of the most important for animals, occurring in many different ecological contexts and dictating the occurrence of agonistic encounters that could lead to injuries or even death. The southern lapwing <i>Vanellus chilensis</i> is one of the most conspicuous bird species from South America, living in the natural grasslands but frequently found in rural and urban area. The species is known by its typical vocalization and its patterns of aggression and territoriality, considered exaggerated, creating a cultural prejudice towards the species. To better understand the agonistic interaction process in the species, we used general linear models to verify the influence of individual characteristics, environmental characteristics, and opponent features on five different response variables related to the interactions: the time of alert behavior display, probability to attack and evade, total duration of the interaction, and the Behavioral Diversity Index (BDI) of each interaction. Despite the models showing that for each response variables the predictors had different importance and weights, it was possible to note that individual features like age, breeding status, and month impact directly the probability to evade or attack, while the opponent species and distance better explained the other variables related to the interaction. The results also showed that the southern lapwings increase the intensity of responses and sensibility to intruder during the breeding season, displaying a trade-off between self-preservation and the protection of the offspring that is present in other bird species.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 2","pages":"93 - 107"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47558826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-03-06DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00417-5
Séverine Methion, Olga Mosca, Bruno Díaz López
{"title":"Epimeletic behavior in a free-ranging female Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus)","authors":"Séverine Methion, Olga Mosca, Bruno Díaz López","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00417-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00417-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2>Abstract\u0000</h2><div><p>Here, we describe the epimeletic behavior of an adult Risso’s dolphin towards a deceased newborn calf of the same species across several days with photographs, acoustic monitoring, and video recordings. Boat-based observation surveys were conducted from April 2014 to October 2021 along the southern coast of Galicia (northwest Spain) as part of a longitudinal study on the ecology of cetacean species. On September 21, 2020, an adult Risso’s dolphin was observed carrying a dead newborn calf in coastal waters. This presumed mother was further sighted with her deceased calf on September 23 and 24 (20 km and 40 km from the first observation site, respectively) and with other adult individuals on September 30, probably after having lost or finally abandoned the carcass. The presumed mother supported the corpse for at least 5 days, which may have had potential consequences for the female health. As direct observations are scarce in the wild, this type of report provides valuable information to better document the occurrence of care-giving behavior in highly mobile marine top predators.\u0000</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 2","pages":"121 - 125"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46794165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00415-7
Yoichi Inoue, Waidi Sinun, Kazuo Okanoya
{"title":"Non-aggressive inter-group interactions in wild Northern Gray gibbons (Hylobates funereus)","authors":"Yoichi Inoue, Waidi Sinun, Kazuo Okanoya","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00415-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00415-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Gibbons exhibit territorial behavior, and mated pairs defend exclusive territories. However, reports on contacts with neighbors near or outside the respective range boundaries are scarce because observing unhabituated neighboring groups is difficult. Studies of encounters have yielded a wide range of observations (aggressive, neutral, communicative, or affiliative) across gibbon species and geographic regions. As it is important to understand behavioral ecology and social relationships among gibbon groups, we studied three Northern Gray gibbon groups (<i>Hylobates funereus</i>) in the Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA), Malaysia and observed their interactions with neighboring groups. From 2001 to 2020, three groups were followed for 162 days (2236.4 h), and we observed 30 instances of encounters at the range boundary or intrusions between a study group and a respective neighboring group. Neutral or communicative encounters were observed in most cases, with the exception of one instance of aggressive encounter (chasing). Gibbons interacted through particular vocalizations (termed songs) in many cases. We report details of some characteristic interactions among gibbon groups during encounters at the range boundary or intrusions. Regarding intrusions, we observed an unusual instance where a neighboring group intruded deep into the study group’s territory, and the neighboring group did not respond to the songs of the resident group. Considering that no physical fighting occurred during encounters or intrusions, gibbon groups in the DVCA seem to be non-aggressive toward each other. We briefly discuss possible explanations for such non-aggressive relationships among gibbon groups.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 1","pages":"59 - 74"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41358843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
acta ethologicaPub Date : 2023-02-13DOI: 10.1007/s10211-023-00414-8
Baohui Yao, Ibrahim M. Hegab, Yukun Kang, Yuchen Tan, Degang Zhang, Junhu Su
{"title":"Underground environment increases the differentiation of personality traits between male and female plateau zokors (Eospalax baileyi)","authors":"Baohui Yao, Ibrahim M. Hegab, Yukun Kang, Yuchen Tan, Degang Zhang, Junhu Su","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00414-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10211-023-00414-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Animal personality is defined as behavior that is consistent across time and context. Ecological and evolutionary pressures might exert sexually dimorphic effects on personality traits. In this study, variations in docility and exploratory behaviors of male and female plateau zokor (<i>Eospalax baileyi</i>) in two populations from different geographical sites were quantified during their breeding season, using bag and open field test. We observed significant repeatability of behaviors in the bag and open field test, except for sniffing behavior in zokors from TZ site. We found that sex influences the personality traits of plateau zokors more than geographical variation in both the bag and open field test. Females had a higher docility than males in the bag test. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of considering plateau zokors’ sex and personality traits when assessing their fitness, behavior, or suitability for behavioral future research work.\u0000</p></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":"26 1","pages":"21 - 30"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10211-023-00414-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45036221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}