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Males Used (male + used)
Selected AbstractsScent-Marking of Giant Otter in the Southern Pantanal, BrazilETHOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Caroline Leuchtenberger Giant otters live in social groups, consisting of a mating pair and one or two litters. Groups are territorial and mark their territories often with scent-marks. Our objectives were to evaluate the frequencies of marking and over-marking according to the social status of the individuals and to define the different postures used during the marking. We observed four groups, totaling 25 individuals (five alpha males, four alpha females, seven adult females, one adult male and eight juveniles) with group size ranging between four and 13 individuals. The study was conducted between July 2006 and July 2007 in the Vermelho River and in a stretch of the Miranda River, in the Southern Pantanal. We observed the groups for a total of 2006 min and recorded 95 events of marking totaling 84.9 min. Time spent marking varied between groups and ranged from 4.3 to 44.7 min. The alpha males marked more frequently (62% of marking events, 55 min) than the alpha females (17% of marking events, 13.6 min). Of the 59 events of scent-marking by the alpha males, 32 over-marked the marks of other individuals from the group. Of the 16 events of scent-marking of the alpha females, five over-marked that of other females from the same group. When scent-marking, alpha males used the ,stepping' posture most frequently (63%), then ,fore-paw rubbing' (24%), ,latrine use' (7%), and ,body rubbing' (6%). Alpha females used the ,stepping' posture most frequently (65%), then ,latrine use' (19%) and ,fore-paw rubbing' (12%), with only one event of ,body rubbing' observed during marking. Subordinate females used the ,stepping' posture (76%) and ,latrine use' (24%) during marking. Scent-marking can play many roles in mammals and for giant otters, and the main roles appear to be communication of social and sexual status and territorial defense. [source] Spatial organization, group living and ecological correlates in low-density populations of Eurasian badgers, Meles melesJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2002Eloy Revilla Summary 1,Territoriality and group living are described in a low-density population of Eurasian badgers, Meles meles L., by studying the patterns of spatial grouping and territory marking, as well as the differences between individuals in some of their characteristics (body condition and dispersal) and in their space use (seasonally, periods of activity and interaction between pairs of individuals) under strong seasonal fluctuations in the availability of the key resource (young rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus L.). Finally, the role of the spatial distribution of the main prey (young rabbits) in the development of sociality was also studied in order to test some of the assumptions and predictions of the resource dispersion hypothesis (RDH). 2,Badgers were territorial, showing a flexible system of territory marking, which includes the marking of the most used areas (sett-latrines at the centres of activity) and additionally, at the smaller territories, a system of border-latrines in the areas of contact between territories. The maximum use of border-latrines was associated with the reproductive season, and that of sett-latrines with the season of food scarcity. 3,In the study area where badgers had rabbits as main prey, territories were occupied by small groups of animals, formed by one adult female who reproduced, one adult male who also showed signs of reproductive activity, the cubs of the year (if there was reproduction) and some animals born during previous years, which remained in their natal territory until their dispersal (normally during the mating season of their third or fourth year of life). This system was not strictly fixed as males, given the opportunity, expanded their territories to encompass additional females. Territories in another study site were occupied by one adult female (marked), plus the cubs of the year and another adult individual (unmarked). 4,In winter and spring dominant females and subordinates used only a small fraction of their territories, moved short distances, at a low speed and covering small areas per night. These seasons corresponded with the reproduction of rabbits (highest food availability). Dominant females were the only individuals using all the territory available in the summer (lowest food availability), when badgers had the worst body condition. Food availability increased again in autumn, as did body condition, while range sizes were again reduced. Dominant males used the same proportion of their territories over all seasons. However, in winter (reproductive season) they moved faster, over longer distances, and covered larger areas per period of activity. These results indicate that use of space by dominant males was affected by different factors from that of dominant females and subordinates. 5,RDH does not seem to explain group living in our populations because: (a) territoriality in each pair of primary animals was driven by different factors (trophic resources for females and females for males); (b) dominant males acted as expansionists; and (c) territory size was related to its richness and not to patch dispersion. 6,We propose an integrative hypothesis to explain not only group formation but also interpopulation variability in the social organization of badgers within ecological, demographic and behavioural constraints and in the light of current theory on delayed dispersal. [source] Copula duration and sperm storage in Mediterranean fruit flies from a wild populationPHYSIOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 1 2000P.H.illip W. Taylor Summary In the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata Weidemann, ,medfly'), a lekking tephritid, evidence from laboratory studies of flies from laboratory strains suggests that copulation is shorter, and sperm storage more abundant, if males are large or protein-fed, and that copulation is longer when females are large. In addition, sperm tend to be stored asymmetrically between the female's two spermathecae and this asymmetry declines with abundance of stored sperm. The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether these trends persist in other experimental contexts that bear closer resemblance to nature. Accordingly, we carried out experiments in a field-cage using males derived as adults from a wild population and virgin females reared from naturally infested fruit. The results of this study were consistent with laboratory studies in that copula duration increased with female size, that sperm were stored asymmetrically between the females' spermathecae, and that this asymmetry declined with number of sperm stored. However, we also found some previously unreported effects of female size; large females stored more sperm and stored sperm more asymmetrically between their two spermathecae than did small females. Unlike the laboratory studies, copula duration and sperm storage patterns were unaffected by male size and diet. This may be due to overwhelming variation from other sources in the wild-collected males used, as well as environmental variability in the semi-natural setting. [source] Male mating tactics in spider monkeys: sneaking to competeAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 9 2010K. Nicole Gibson Abstract I investigated the mating system and male mating tactics for a population of wild spider monkeys (Ateles belzebuth chamek), to identify the behaviors males used to achieve and maintain access to sexually receptive females, and to examine if some males used more tactics than other males and/or had differential access to females. Results show that the mating system mostly involved scramble competition polygyny and that males used a range of mating tactics and behaviors, previously unreported for spider monkeys. The most unusual feature of spider monkey mating behavior was the secretive nature of copulations,nearly all copulations were clandestine, but a few were in the presence of other group members. Fifteen sexually mature males were observed to copulate 43 times. These data provide the first opportunity to evaluate how female availability influences male,male competition. First, the operational sex ratio was highly skewed toward males because usually only one female was receptive in each community per month. Second, females only mated with a few males in their community in any one mating period, but some females mated over the course of multiple consecutive mating periods, eventually mating with most or all of the males in their community. Across all communities, 9 (21%) of the 43 copulations involved a single male,female partner, 20 (47%) involved four males mating with the same female, and males mated with from one to four different females. Fourteen of the 16 total adult males and 1 subadult male (10 total) copulated. One or two males in each community were successful in monopolizing access to receptive females, and these males did not usually have the highest rates of copulation. In this system, clandestine copulations are one behavioral solution to the complex problem of gaining mating exclusivity and, probably, exercising mate choice. Am. J. Primatol. 72:794,804, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | ||||||||||