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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences
Fallow Bucks Get Hoarse: Vocal Fatigue As A Possible Signal To Conspecifics, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott
Fallow Bucks Get Hoarse: Vocal Fatigue As A Possible Signal To Conspecifics, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott
Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection
Many studies of sexually selected vocal communication assume that calls remain stable throughout the breeding season. However, during this period, physiological and social factors change and these can have strong effects on the structure of calls and calling rates. During the rut, fallow bucks, Dama dama, reduce their feeding and increase the time and energy spent on vocalizing and fighting to gain matings, and consequently their body condition declines greatly. The availability of matings and intensity of competition between males also change. Therefore, we predicted that male vocal signalling would vary over time in response to the changing intersexual and …
Mother-Young Recognition In An Ungulate Hider Species: A Unidirectional Proce, Marco V.G. Torriani, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott
Mother-Young Recognition In An Ungulate Hider Species: A Unidirectional Proce, Marco V.G. Torriani, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott
Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection
Parent‐offspring recognition is usually crucial for survival of young. In mammals, olfaction often only permits identification at short range, and vocalizations are important at longer distances. Following and hiding antipredator strategies found in newborn mammals may also affect parental recognition mechanisms. We investigated mother‐offspring recognition in fallow deer, an ungulate hider species. We analyzed the structure of adult female and fawn contact calls to determine whether they are individually distinctive and tested for mother‐offspring recognition. Only females (and not fawns) have individualized vocalizations, with the fundamental frequency as the most distinctive parameter. Playback experiments showed that fawns can distinguish the …