Social Organization in an Enclosed Group of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus L.) on Rhum. I. The Dominance Hierarchy of Females and their Offspring

Abstract

Studies of the dominance hierarchy in red deer have mainly concentrated on the hierarchy among stags. This study aimed to investigate in detail the dominance hierarchy of a group of hinds and their offspring and to compare it between two feeding situations, one when the deer were browsing normally in a large area, and the other when they were competing for artificially provided food in a small area.

Does heterosexual experience matter for bucks' homosexual mating behavior?

“…Then, we suggest that depending on the social context, maleemale sexual behavior may also have a role linked to reproductive behavior. Our data provide support to the concept proposed in sheep (Resko et al, 1996), antilope (Dubost and Feer, 1981), and several deer species (Hall, 1983;Barto s and Hole cková, 2006) that homosexual behavior is an interaction of sexual origin (Poiani, 2010).…”

Localized removal affects white‐tailed deer space use and contacts

“…Our findings suggest that responses by deer to social disruption differ by age, due in part to greater familiarity of adult females with their surroundings and their more established social status with their neighbors relative to juveniles (Hirth , Nelson and Mech , Taillon et al ). Juveniles may also lose social status with neighboring groups when group members are removed if social status is derived from the group, similar to the manner in which calves derive social status from adult females in red deer (Hall ). Whereas adult females may have previously reared and parted with their offspring because of dispersal, predation, hunting mortality, or disease, juveniles have experienced group member loss for the first time.…”

Benefits for Dominant Red Deer Hinds under a Competitive Feeding System: Food Access Behavior, Diet and Nutrient Selection

“…This procedure showed which nutrients were significantly related to a higher or lower component selection in every experimental period. For a better understanding of the relative importance of each nutrient in the observed selection of meal compounds, and to allow a comparison between the two studied periods, standardized selection ratios ( B i 0–1 , B i 1–5 ) were also calculated according to the formula B i  = ŵ i /(Σŵ ) , so that they add to 1 [23]. Finally, paired t-tests showed differences between meal remaining after one hour respect to initially offered meal, and after five hours respect to meal remaining after the first one.…”

“…Following [22] , agonistic interactions were considered as occasions when one hind physically attacked another one, or made a ritualized gesture associated with attacks that led to the other animal moving away. Threats included one or more of the following behaviors: butting with the forehead against the other's body; biting (usually directed towards the back or ears); kicking with the forelegs and chasing; all of which varied in intensity, sometimes being reduced to a mere intention movement in which no actual contact was made [23] . No serious injuries were observed during agonistic encounters.…”