Mother-infant behaviour of wild Grevy's zebra: adaptations for survival in semidesert East Africa

Becker, C. Dustin; Ginsberg, Joshua R.

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(05)80177-0

Cited by 47 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Since the stripe pattern is individual, as a fingerprint, zebras may recognize each other on the basis of their stripes (Morris, 1990;Prothero and Schoch, 2003). This might be especially important in the visual communication between mothers and their foals or in reinforcing the bond between male and female in courtship (Cloudsley-Thompson, 1984;Becker and Ginsberg, 1990). Stripes might also be visual markers for group bonding or to direct companions to particular parts of the body for grooming (Kingdon, 1984).…”

Section: Appendix Zebra Stripes and Their Possible Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polarotactic tabanids find striped patterns with brightness and/or polarization modulation least attractive: an advantage of zebra stripes

Egri

Blahó

Kriska

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

115

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SUMMARYThe characteristic striped appearance of zebras has provoked much speculation about its function and why the pattern has evolved, but experimental evidence is scarce. Here, we demonstrate that a zebra-striped horse model attracts far fewer horseflies (tabanids) than either homogeneous black, brown, grey or white equivalents. Such biting flies are prevalent across Africa and have considerable fitness impact on potential mammalian hosts. Besides brightness, one of the likely mechanisms underlying this protection is the polarization of reflected light from the host animal. We show that the attractiveness of striped patterns to tabanids is also reduced if only polarization modulations (parallel stripes with alternating orthogonal directions of polarization) occur in horizontal or vertical homogeneous grey surfaces. Tabanids have been shown to respond strongly to linearly polarized light, and we demonstrate here that the light and dark stripes of a zebraʼs coat reflect very different polarizations of light in a way that disrupts the attractiveness to tabanids. We show that the attractiveness to tabanids decreases with decreasing stripe width, and that stripes below a certain size are effective in not attracting tabanids. Further, we demonstrate that the stripe widths of zebra coats fall in a range where the striped pattern is most disruptive to tabanids. The striped coat patterns of several other large mammals may also function in reducing exposure to tabanids by similar mechanisms of differential brightness and polarization of reflected light. This work provides an experimentally supported explanation for the underlying mechanism leading to the selective advantage of a black-and-white striped coat pattern. Supplementary material available online at

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Section: Appendix Zebra Stripes and Their Possible Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polarotactic tabanids find striped patterns with brightness and/or polarization modulation least attractive: an advantage of zebra stripes

Egri

Blahó

Kriska

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

115

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“…We used the same definitions of suckling bout, suckling attempt and interruption as other authors studying suckling behaviour of equids (Crowell-Davis 1985;Becker and Ginsberg 1990;Cameron et al 1999). The suckling bout was regarded as successful when it lasted longer than 5 s and was not interrupted for period longer than 60 s. If the interruption of a suckling bout was longer than 60 s, it was considered as two suckling bouts.…”

Section: Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Further evidence for sex differences in suckling behaviour of captive plains zebra foals

2011

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Sex differences in suckling behaviour could be explained either by different maternal investment or by different behaviour of young. Previously, we found sex differences in rejection and termination of suckling bouts in captive plains zebras (Equus burchellii). In this study, we analysed the length of suckling bout interruptions and unsuccessful subsequent attempts which followed a successful suckling bout in plains zebra foals at Dvůr Králové Zoo. When a suckling bout was interrupted, male foals resumed the bout sooner than female foals. The probability of a subsequent attempt decreased with increasing age in female foals but did not change in male foals. These results demonstrate higher effort in suckling interest by male foals, who tried to suckle more than female foals. Although we found sex bias in the effort to suckle, which suggested higher parent-offspring conflict in male offspring, we cannot omit a sex bias in milk supply by the mother.

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“…Weaning of zebra, feral horses, and domestic horses occurs at 9 15 months of age. Foals rarely drink water before weaning (Crowell-Davis et al, 1985;Berger, 1986;Becker and Ginsberg, 1990). The deciduous premolars mineralize before birth, and the M 1 and M2 mineralize wholly or partially before weaning.…”

Section: Tooth Mineralization and Eruption In Equidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is no clear evidence in tooth enamel ~p for age of weaning in Mesohippus and Miohippus. Age at weaning, in general, also increases with increasing body size, but ecology strongly influences the precise timing and there is considerable variation in the age of weaning among modern equids (Becker and Ginsberg, 1990). Thus although the teeth mineralized much earlier in Mesohippus and Miohippus, the animals were probably also weaned earlier.…”

Section: Implications For Reconstruction Of Continental Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Biologic and climatic signals in the oxygen isotopic composition of Eocene-Oligocene equid enamel phosphate

Bryant

Froelich

Showers

et al. 1996

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

138

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Oxygen isotope results for tooth enamel-phosphate (6p) from late Eocene-early Oligocene fossil horses are presented to determine if paleobiologic and paleoclimatologic information is recorded in fossil tooth enamel chemistry. Teeth from jaws of Mesohippus and Miohippus from the White River Formation (or Group) in the western Great Plains are well preserved and have excellent geochronologic control. Although there is clear evidence for post-depositional alteration of the enamel, a hydroxylapatite mineralogy is preserved and isotopic exchange of oxygen does not appear to be significant. There are distinctive patterns of 6p variation among individual teeth from the same jaw. These patterns reflect season of birth and timing of enamel mineralization. Most of the horses were born in the spring, and mineralization of the enamel is complete after 1-1.5 years. These results show that paleoclimate reconstruction from enamel 6p must account for tooth position and timing of mineralization. The observation that there are different intrajaw patterns of 6p variation among Mesohippus and Miohippus may provide a basis to reconstruct changes in climate seasonality in ancient environments.

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Mother-infant behaviour of wild Grevy's zebra: adaptations for survival in semidesert East Africa

Cited by 47 publications

References 13 publications

Polarotactic tabanids find striped patterns with brightness and/or polarization modulation least attractive: an advantage of zebra stripes

Polarotactic tabanids find striped patterns with brightness and/or polarization modulation least attractive: an advantage of zebra stripes

Further evidence for sex differences in suckling behaviour of captive plains zebra foals

Biologic and climatic signals in the oxygen isotopic composition of Eocene-Oligocene equid enamel phosphate

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