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Full-Text Articles in Behavior and Ethology
Alpha Status, Dominance, And Division Of Labor In Wolf Packs, L. David Mech
Alpha Status, Dominance, And Division Of Labor In Wolf Packs, L. David Mech
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The prevailing view of a wolf (Canis lupus) pack is that of a group of individuals ever vying for dominance but held in check by the “alpha” pair, the alpha male and alpha female. Most research on the social dynamics of wolf packs, however, has been conducted on non-natural assortments of captive wolves. Here I describe the wolf-pack social order as it occurs in nature, discuss the alpha concept and social dominance and submission, and present data on the precise relationships among members in free-living packs, based on a literature review and 13 summers of observations of wolves …
Alpha Status, Dominance, And Division Of Labor In Wolf Packs, L. David Mech
Alpha Status, Dominance, And Division Of Labor In Wolf Packs, L. David Mech
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The prevailing view of a wolf (Canis lupus) pack is that of a group of individuals ever vying for dominance but held in check by the “alpha” pair, the alpha male and alpha female. Most research on the social dynamics of wolf packs, however, has been conducted on non-natural assortments of captive wolves. Here I describe the wolf-pack social order as it occurs in nature, discuss the alpha concept and social dominance and submission, and present data on the precise relationships among members in free-living packs, based on a literature review and 13 summers of observations of wolves …
Regurgitative Food Transfer Among Wild Wolves, L. David Mech, Paul C. Wolf, Jane M. Packard
Regurgitative Food Transfer Among Wild Wolves, L. David Mech, Paul C. Wolf, Jane M. Packard
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Few studies of monogamous canids have addressed regurgitation in the context of extended parental care and alloparental care within family groups. We studied food transfer by regurgitation in a pack of wolves on Ellesmere Island, North West Territories, Canada, during 6 summers from 1988 through 1996. All adult wolves, including yearlings and a post-reproductive female, regurgitated food. Although individuals regurgitated up to five times per bout, the overall ratio of regurgitations per bout was 1.5. Pups were more likely to receive regurgitations (81%) than the breeding female (14%) or auxiliaries (6%). The breeding male regurgitated mostly to the breeding female …
Twenty-Year Home-Range Dynamics Of A White-Tailed Deer Matriline, Michael E. Nelson, L. D. Mech
Twenty-Year Home-Range Dynamics Of A White-Tailed Deer Matriline, Michael E. Nelson, L. D. Mech
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
We examined the seasonal migration and home-range dynamics of a multigeneration white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) matriline comprising six females from four generations spanning a 20-year period in northeastern Minnesota. All, from the matriarch to her great-granddaughter, migrated to the same summer and winter ranges, the longest individual record being 14.5 years. Three maternal females concurrently occupied exclusive fawning sites within their ancestral matriarch’s summer range, while two nonmaternal females explored new areas and ranged near their mothers. One great-granddaughter expanded her summer range 1 km beyond the matriarch’s summer range while essentially vacating half of her ancestors’ range …