The bone collector: temporal patterns of bone-gnawing behaviour define osteophagia as a female prerogative in a large rodent

Mori, Emiliano; Lovari, Sandro; Mazza, Giuseppe

doi:10.1007/s00265-018-2504-8

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Until now, this perhaps appeared to be an infrequent behavior; we sought to note how often this behavior was recorded during our field observations. Little is known about osteophagia in giraffes, but in crested porcupines, lactating females engage in this behavior, presumably to bolster their calcium and phosphorus levels [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flehmen, Osteophagia, and Other Behaviors of Giraffes (Giraffa giraffa angolensis): Vomeronasal Organ Adaptation

Hart

2023

Animals

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The size of adult male giraffes (Giraffa giraffa angolensis) far exceeds the size of the females. At the Namutoni waterholes in Etosha National Park, bulls were seen many times each day screening adult females for their pending sexual receptivity by provoking them to urinate; this mainly involved sniffing their genitalia. If the female accedes to the male’s invitation, she widens her hindleg stance, braces her body, and then urinates, usually for at least five seconds. The male places his muzzle and tongue in the urine stream, and then performs flehmen, often raising his head high in the air. Males never investigated urine on the ground. The bilateral papillae on the giraffe’s hard palate connect with the nasopalatine ducts, which enter the bilateral vomeronasal organ (VNO). Unlike many mammals, the giraffe’s VNO lacks a prominent connection to the nasal cavity and its connections to the oral cavity are primarily via the incisive papillae. Most days, some giraffes were observed searching for bones for extended periods, chewing them, and sometimes being troubled by a bone stuck in their mouth. A giraffe killed by lions was frequented for several days by a procession of giraffes investigating the carcass. A very dark-colored bull giraffe emitted loud pulsed growls that drove off most of the surrounding giraffes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flehmen, Osteophagia, and Other Behaviors of Giraffes (Giraffa giraffa angolensis): Vomeronasal Organ Adaptation

Hart

2023

Animals

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“…Accordingly, in over 60% of nests, we observed a secondary predation, always by mammals. For instance, crested porcupines used eggshells, likely to increase calcium in their diet when cubs are in the den, that is, at the start of bird nesting season (end of the winter‐early spring: Mori et al ., 2016, 2018). Moreover, most nests, including all of those completely preyed by corvids, foxes and martens, were subsequently rooted by wild boar.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The wild boar Sus scrofa as a threat to ground‐nesting bird species: an artificial nest experiment

et al. 2021

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Nest predation is reported as a cause of reproductive failure of ground‐nesting bird species whose populations in Europe are declining. Conversely, European populations of the wild boar Sus scrofa have been expanding, leading to increasing threats to habitats and ecological communities. The impacts of wild boar on ground‐nesting bird species are poorly known and have never been explicitly assessed. We conducted an artificial ground‐nest experiment in Mediterranean habitats of central Italy using camera traps to assess predator identities. Deployed nests contained quail or chicken eggs, and predation occurred within one week for 47/48 deployments carried out during March‐July 2020. The wild boar was the most common predator (36% deployments), followed by the magpie Pica pica (18%), the red fox Vulpes vulpes (10%) and the pine marten Martes martes (10%). Predation by other species was occasionally observed. Egg type and deployment habitat did not significantly influence time to predation or the likelihood that a nest was preyed upon by wild boar, respectively. The presence of a stuffed gull close to the nests significantly delayed predation. Nests preyed by birds and mammals other than wild boar were often subsequently scavenged by wild boar, which consumed the remaining eggs or eggshells. Time to predation increased from spring to summer, suggesting a reduction of predation intensity during periods when the availability of natural eggs is lowest. The likelihood of a nest being preyed upon by the wild boar compared to other predators increased when wild boar frequency of occurrence in 1‐week camera trap shootings was the highest, suggesting that higher abundance/activity of this species triggered increased egg predation. The wild boar might act as major predators of ground‐nesting bird species in Mediterranean habitats and the large‐scale population increase of this ungulate should be considered a significant threat to ground‐nesting species of European conservation concern.

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“…In Italy, reproduction of the crested porcupine can occur throughout the year, but the peak of births has been recorded in February (Mori et al 2016). In this period of the year, a peak of bone-gnawing by females was also detected, most likely to integrate calcium and phosphorus in the diet during lactation (Mori et al 2018). Consistently, the consumption of insects also occurs on this period of the year, most likely due to female nutritional needs in the last weeks of gestation (Carlson 1940;Pillay et al 2015).…”

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confidence: 92%

“…At birth peak (i.e. February-March in Italy: Mori et al 2016), mostly female porcupines gnaw bones of wildlife, eggshells and sometimes limestone rocks so to increase calcium and phosphorous supply during lactation (Kibii 2009;Landry 1970;Mori et al 2018). Coppola et al (2020 provided crested porcupines with carcasses of pigeons, which were partly consumed in four cases, suggesting also a scavenging behavior, despite no record of animal consumption is available from scat analyses.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Although numbers are not so high to suggest an active research, insect consumption indicates that porcupines may need to integrate in their diet elements rich in calcium and phosphorus, particularly at their birth peak (Mori et al 2018) or, at least, they do not avoid to ingest harmless insects which may provide them with supplemental proteins. Insects consumed by porcupines are common ground-dwelling species of wooded environments (cf.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Seasonal consumption of insects by the crested porcupine in Central Italy

et al. 2020

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Many herbivorous, granivorous and frugivorous rodents can integrate animal proteins in their diet, still for many of them no information is available on the importance of animal food sources. The crested porcupine, Hystrix cristata, is considered a strictly vegetarian rodent. It may integrate animal proteins through bone-gnawing, while the importance of insects in his diet is poorly known. In this study we assessed the presence of insects in the diet of this rodent in Central Italy by collecting 141 faecal samples along transects in 2016–2020. Hypogeal plant organs were the main component of the diet (absolute frequency = 50.38%; volume = 60.13%). Insects were detected only in 6.8% samples, only in February–March, at the annual birth peak for the crested porcupine. Insect consumption, although occasional, could be linked to the nutritional requirements of this rodent during lactation.

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The bone collector: temporal patterns of bone-gnawing behaviour define osteophagia as a female prerogative in a large rodent

Cited by 10 publications

References 41 publications

Flehmen, Osteophagia, and Other Behaviors of Giraffes (Giraffa giraffa angolensis): Vomeronasal Organ Adaptation

Flehmen, Osteophagia, and Other Behaviors of Giraffes (Giraffa giraffa angolensis): Vomeronasal Organ Adaptation

The wild boar Sus scrofa as a threat to ground‐nesting bird species: an artificial nest experiment

Seasonal consumption of insects by the crested porcupine in Central Italy

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