Suckling behaviour and allonursing in the Apennine chamois. Issue 5 (3rd September 2018)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Suckling behaviour and allonursing in the Apennine chamois. Issue 5 (3rd September 2018)
- Main Title:
- Suckling behaviour and allonursing in the Apennine chamois
- Authors:
- Scornavacca, Davide
Cotza, Antonella
Lovari, Sandro
Ferretti, Francesco - Abstract:
- Abstract : Maternal cares and, in particular, suckling behaviour, are fundamental for early growth and survival of offspring ungulates. In turn, factors influencing maternal cares can have important effects at individual and population levels, with consequences at both short and long temporal scales. We assessed monthly variation of behavioural indices of suckling and nursing, as well as occurrence of allosuckling, in a mountain-dwelling ungulate, the Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata, on summer-early autumn 2013–2014. Not surprisingly, duration of suckling events and frequency of suckling solicitations by kids, decreased throughout months, whereas the proportion of grazing kids increased from July to October, indicating a growing reliance on pasture. Conversely, the probability of suckling success kept stable from July to October, suggesting a constant willingness of females to allow kids to suckle. Of all suckling events, 63% involved more than one kid, indicating allosuckling. On average, multiple suckles were shorter than those involving one kid and occurred in all months with the same proportion. Our results suggest the occurrence of high levels of maternal cares in a gregarious herbivore, with frequent allosuckling and apparent willingness of females to nurse offspring throughout summer-autumn. These results suggest that the mother's role does not terminate with weaning.
- Is Part Of:
- Ethology, ecology & evolution. Volume 30:Issue 5(2018)
- Journal:
- Ethology, ecology & evolution
- Issue:
- Volume 30:Issue 5(2018)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 30, Issue 5 (2018)
- Year:
- 2018
- Volume:
- 30
- Issue:
- 5
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2018-0030-0005-0000
- Page Start:
- 385
- Page End:
- 398
- Publication Date:
- 2018-09-03
- Subjects:
- suckle intensity -- allosuckling -- lactation -- Rupicapra, weaning
Animal behavior -- Periodicals
Animal ecology -- Periodicals
Behavior evolution -- Periodicals
Behavior, Animal -- Periodicals
Ecology -- Periodicals
Biological Evolution -- Periodicals
Écologie animale -- Périodiques
Évolution du comportement -- Périodiques
Éthologie -- Périodiques
Animal behavior
Animal ecology
Behavior evolution
Periodicals
Electronic journals
591.5 - Journal URLs:
- http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/20334991.html ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/teee20/current ↗
http://www.unifi.it/unifi/dbag/eee/ ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/03949370.2017.1423115 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0394-9370
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 7064.xml