Antipredator strategy of female goitered gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa Guld., 1780) with hiding fawn

Blank, David A.; Ruckstuhl, Kathreen E.; Yang, Weikang

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2015.07.013

Cited by 21 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Goitred gazelle mothers occupy individual parcels of land for giving birth to their young. Within the first 2–3 weeks of life, neonate goitred gazelles are ‘hiders’, so that their mothers may use spatial landmarks in addition to acoustic cues for recognition of their own young (Blank et al., ; Jevnerov, ; Marmasinskaya, , ). When hiding close to their place of birth, newborn goitred gazelles may be predated by red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ), steppe cats ( Felis libyca ) or jackals ( Canis aureus ), which normally are not dangerous to their mothers and can be deterred by them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, when being attacked by a predator, eliciting immediate maternal physical reaction to their distress calls is more important for neonate goitred gazelles than advertising own individual identity by these calls. Goitred gazelle mothers rapidly approach to defend their young in response to even imperfect imitations of neonate distress calls by humans (Blank & Yang, ; Blank et al., ; Volodin et al., ). Potential time delays in deterring an attacking predator due to individual recognition may be fatal for the young and more costly, in terms of reproductive success, than the time and energy lost for erroneously responding to distress calls of unrelated offspring (Lingle, Rendall, & Pellis, ; Lingle, Rendall, Wilson, et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neonate goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) and saiga antelopes (Saiga tatarica) use different strategies against predation. Goitred gazelle neonates are hiders for 2-3 weeks post-partum on individual parcels of land occupied by their mothers within the breeding grounds of this species in the semideserts of Central Asia (Blank, 1998;Blank, Ruckstuhl, & Yang, 2015;Jevnerov, 1984;Marmasinskaya, 1996Marmasinskaya, , 2008. For the remaining year, they forage together with their mothers and other young in small groups or herds (Blank, Ruckstuhl, & Yang, 2012).…”

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Individuality of distress and discomfort calls in neonates with bass voices: Wild‐living goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) and saiga antelopes (Saiga tatarica)

et al. 2017

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Neonate ruminants produce distress calls when captured by a predator and discomfort milk begging calls when hungry. In many neonate ruminants, the distress and discomfort calls are high‐frequency vocalizations, in which the fundamental frequency is the key variable for recognition of their emotional arousal by caregivers. In contrast, in this study, we examine the low‐frequency open‐mouth distress and discomfort calls in the neonates of two species of wild‐living ungulates, which clearly highlight vocal tract resonances (formants). In the goitred gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), the distress calls were higher in fundamental frequency (f0) and in the first and third formants than the discomfort calls. The accuracy of classifying individuals by variables of distress calls with discriminant function analysis (67%) was significantly lower than that of discomfort calls (85%). In the saiga (Saiga tatarica), only the third formant was higher in the distress calls than in the discomfort calls. The accuracy of classifying individuals by variables of distress calls (89%) did not differ significantly from that of discomfort calls (94%). Thus, the use of acoustic cues to vocal identity and to the degree of arousal differs between the two species. Calls were significantly more individualistic in the saiga, probably because this species lives in large herds and neonates use a ‘following’ antipredatory strategy, in which vocal individuality is crucial for mother–offspring communication. In contrast, goitred gazelles live in smaller groups and neonates use a ‘hiding’ antipredatory strategy. Accordingly, mothers can rely on additional environmental cues for spotting their young and this may decrease the necessity for individualization of the calls of neonates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Individuality of distress and discomfort calls in neonates with bass voices: Wild‐living goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) and saiga antelopes (Saiga tatarica)

et al. 2017

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“…For example, when ungulates live in flat and barren environments, hiding the offspring becomes difficult irrespective of the maintained distance to threats/disturbances. Blank et al ( 91 ) found that for goitered gazelles in a habitat without vegetative cover, where the mothers were unable to visually hide their offspring, distance between mothers and offspring became crucial for the mother not to attract predators to the young. As the mother was unable to visually hide the offspring, she increased the distance to the offspring, seemingly to compensate for the lack of vegetative cover.…”

Section: Does Separation Distance From the Herd Matter?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Prepartum Maternal Behavior of Domesticated Cattle: A Comparison with Managed, Feral, and Wild Ungulates

et al. 2018

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The event of giving birth is an essential part of animal production. In dairy cattle production, there are substantial economical and welfare-related challenges arising around the time of parturition, and hence increased focus on efficient management of the calving cow. Drawing on the research literature on prepartum maternal behavior, this review compares cattle to other members of the ungulate clade with the aim of understanding the biological basis of bovine prepartum behavior with main emphasis on dairy cows. Ultimately, this knowledge may be used in future development of housing systems and recommendations for the management of calving cows. Maternal prepartum behavior varies among species, but the final goal of ungulate mothers is the same: ensuring a calm parturition and optimal environment for the onset of postpartum maternal behavior by locating an appropriate birth site, with low risk of predators, disturbances and mistaken identity of offspring. Features of chosen birth sites vary among species and depend largely on the environment, as ungulate females display a considerable ability to adapt to their surroundings. However, within commercial housing conditions in dairy production, the animals’ ability to adapt behaviorally appears to be challenged. Confinement alongside high stocking densities leave little room to express birth-site selection behavior, posing a high risk of agonistic social behavior, disturbances, and mismothering, as well as exposure to olfactory cues influencing both prepartum and postpartum maternal behavior. Dairy cows are thus exposed to several factors in a commercial calving environment, which may thwart their maternal motivations and influence their behavior. In addition, prepartum cattle may be more affected by olfactory cues than other ungulate species (e.g., sheep) because they are attracted to birth fluids already before calving. Hence, providing dairy cows with an environment where they can perform the maternal behavior they are motivated for, may aid a calm and secure calving and provide optimal surroundings for postpartum maternal behavior. Future research should focus on designing motivation-based housing systems allowing freedom to express prepartum maternal behavior and investigate in more detail the effects of the environment on the welfare of calving cows and their offspring.

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“…Rather than engaging in the self-defense behavior of hiding or fleeing, the parents might hide the young and/or attack a predator. Parental defense is wide spread across taxa, including fish (Carlisle, 1985), reptiles (Greene et al, 2006), birds (Ghalambor and Martin, 2001) and mammals (Blank et al, 2015), strongly suggesting that it has been selected multiple times. Despite its clear adaptive value, little is known about the neural mechanisms by which parents flexibly change from self-defense to offspring defense.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freezing suppression by oxytocin in central amygdala allows alternate defensive behaviours and mother-pup interactions

Rickenbacher

Perry

Sullivan

et al. 2017

eLife

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When animals and their offspring are threatened, parents switch from self-defense to offspring protection. How self-defense is suppressed remains elusive. We postulated that suppression of the self-defense response, freezing, is gated via oxytocin acting in the centro-lateral amygdala (CeL). We found that rat dams conditioned to fear an odor, froze when tested alone, whereas if pups were present, they remained in close contact with them or targeted the threat. Furthermore, blocking oxytocin signaling in the CeL prevented the suppression of maternal freezing. Finally, pups exposed to the odor in the presence of the conditioned dam later froze when re-exposed alone. However, if oxytocin signaling in the dam had been blocked, pups failed to learn. This study provides a functional role for the well-described action of oxytocin in the central amygdala, and demonstrates that self-defense suppression allows for active pup protection and mother-pup interactions crucial for pup threat learning.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.24080.001

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Antipredator strategy of female goitered gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa Guld., 1780) with hiding fawn

Cited by 21 publications

References 37 publications

Individuality of distress and discomfort calls in neonates with bass voices: Wild‐living goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) and saiga antelopes (Saiga tatarica)

Individuality of distress and discomfort calls in neonates with bass voices: Wild‐living goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) and saiga antelopes (Saiga tatarica)

Prepartum Maternal Behavior of Domesticated Cattle: A Comparison with Managed, Feral, and Wild Ungulates

Freezing suppression by oxytocin in central amygdala allows alternate defensive behaviours and mother-pup interactions

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