Methodological problems in describing patterns of senescence in wild populations have until recently impeded progress in understanding the evolution of a process that decreases individual fitness. We investigated age-and sex-specific survival in five populations of three species of ungulates (roe deer, Capreolus capreolus; bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis; and isard, Rupicapra pyrenaica), using recent statistical developments of capture-mark-recapture models and long-term (12 to 22 yr) data on marked individuals. The yearly survival of females aged 2-7 yr was remarkably similar and very high (92-95%) in all five populations. Survival of adult males varied among species and populations. Survival decreased from 8 yr onward for both sexes in all populations, suggesting that senescence was a common phenomenon. Male survival was lower than female survival, and the gender difference increased with age. The extent of sex differences in survival was related neither to sexual dimorphism in mass nor to the level of polygyny, suggesting that species differences in social behavior, particularly mating system and the level of malemale aggression, may be more important than simply the level of polygyny in explaining sexual differences in survival. Our results underline the advantages of long-term monitoring of marked individuals for the study of evolutionary ecology.

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Temporal partitioning of daily activities between species may promote coexistence within animal communities by reducing behavioural interference, particularly when species highly overlap in the use of space and resources. Such a strategy may be used by Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra) when in the presence of mouflon (Ovis gmelini musimon × Ovis sp.), an introduced highly gregarious species with a broader ecological niche, overlapping with that of chamois. Using simultaneous monitoring of 29 Global Positioning System‐collared chamois and 12 mouflon, we assessed the temporal variation in activity patterns of chamois amongst two subpopulations: one without mouflon and one with mouflon, during January and August, which are the two most extreme periods of spatial overlap of mouflon with chamois distribution. Substantial differences in activity patterns between chamois and mouflon were observed (mean 13.8 ± 10.5% in January and 10.6 ± 11.6% in August). More subtle differences appeared between both subpopulations of chamois and persisted, regardless of the spatial overlap with mouflon (3.2 ± 1.8% in January and 2.6 ± 1.5% in August), thus highlighting that there is no behavioural interference from mouflon on chamois. Our findings suggest that the temporal partitioning of daily activities between chamois and mouflon, although probably a result of species‐specific adaptations to environmental conditions, may contribute to their coexistence. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 111, 621–626.