海南坡鹿雄鹿发情期的吼叫行为及其在繁殖中的意义

1998年 3～ 5月期间 ,于海南省大田国家级自然保护区的养鹿场内共记录到 7只半野生海南坡鹿(Cervuseldihainanus)雄鹿发情期 4 6次吼叫 ,但未见到雌鹿发出吼叫的现象。记录到的所有吼叫均由年龄大于4 5岁的雄鹿发出 ,其中 1只雄鹿的吼叫达 2 2次 ,占 4 7 8%。雄鹿的吼叫由连续的 3～ 13声组成 ,整个吼叫过程持续 9～ 2 3s ,吼叫频率为 [3 4 74± 6 90 ( 2 5 ) ]声 /min。雄鹿每次的吼叫声数及持续时间存在显著的个体差异。雄鹿的吼叫在白天和夜间均能听见 ,但主要发生于 8:0 0～ 9:5 9及 17:0 0～ 17:5 9两个时间段。吼叫是雄鹿繁殖活动的一个表现指标 ,它与雄鹿的蹭角、泥浴、争斗胜利、交配成功或追逐发情雌鹿等优势行为显著正相关。因此 ,我们认为吼叫是雄鹿发情行为中的一种优势炫耀行为 ,具有明显的繁殖意义。     

四川梅花鹿繁殖行为

2006年4—12月和2007年3—11月在四川省铁布自然保护区观察和统计了野生梅花鹿的繁殖行为,包括发情交配、产仔、发情吼叫、爬跨及其昼夜节律行为等。结果表明,四川梅花鹿为季节性发情动物,发情交配行为发生在9月上旬至12月中旬,集中在10—11月(占(86.99±3.24)%)。四川梅花鹿发情交配日期最早见于9月8日,最晚为12月16日,跨度约90—100 d(±6 d,n=90)。雌鹿交配日期与其繁殖经历具有低度正相关性(Kendall's tau-b和Spearman's rho,0.3r0.5,P0.05),成体雌鹿交配日期稍微早于初次配种雌鹿。雄鹿发情吼叫和爬跨行为具有明显的昼夜节律性,各有2个高峰期(05:00—08:00和18:00—21:00),夜间有小节律的发情吼叫和爬跨时期。U-test检验表明发情吼叫频次和爬跨频率在昼夜间有极显著差异(P0.01)。雄鹿吼叫行为与其交配行为具有高度正相关性(Kendall's tau-b和Spearman's rho,0.8r1.0,P0.05),主雄、次雄和群外单身雄鹿的昼夜吼叫次数有极显著差异(P0.01)。雌鹿产仔期从4月下旬开始到7月下旬结束,集中在5—6月(占(91.51±4.96)%),产仔日期最早见于4月29日,最晚为7月28日,跨度约80—90 d(±5 d,n=130)。梅花鹿产仔日期与其分娩经历具有低度正相关性(Kendall's tau-b和Spearman's rho,0.3r0.5,P0.05),成体雌鹿产仔日期早于初次繁殖雌鹿。雌鹿每胎产1—2个幼仔,单双胎率分别为98.86%(±6.96%,n=129)和1.01%(±0.07%,n=1)。妊娠期和哺乳期梅花鹿采食行为分配占较大比率,其次是卧息和移动,哺乳期采食行为分配低于妊娠期,这与妊娠期正逢冬季,食物资源相对匮乏有关,而哺乳期恰逢夏季,植物生长旺盛,食物资源相对丰富。     

四川梅花鹿产仔换茸期声行为的研究

2009年4～9月在四川省若尔盖县铁布自然保护区,对四川梅花鹿Cervusnippon sichuanicus产仔换茸期的声行为进行了较系统的研究。四川梅花鹿产仔换茸期的声行为可以分为报警声、惊叫声、吼叫声、母子召唤声等20种鸣声。通过声谱分析获得了各种鸣声的语谱图及其频谱特征,并通过野外观察初步确定了这些声行为的生物学意义。在遇到危险或潜在危险时,成年雄鹿往往第一个发出报警鸣声,而雌鹿的报警声大约是雄鹿的两倍多。成年个体的主动防御鸣声频次要多于亚成体,而幼体未见有该类鸣声。对梅花鹿不同亚种和不同季节的几种声行为进行了比较。     

发情期小灵猫行为的研究

本文对笼养小灵猫发情期的繁殖行为进行了观察。结果表明：小灵猫一年有两次发情期,绝大部分的小灵猫在春季（２－４月）发情,少数个体在秋季（８月底至９月）出现第２次发情。发情期雄性小灵猫频繁地发出求偶叫声和增加擦香次数。雄猫的擦香行为和求偶叫声可促使雌猫的发情,发情期一系列性行为对雌雄交配的成功与否有重要的意义。     

华南梅花鹿声音通讯行为的初步研究

2005年3～12月,在江西桃红岭自然保护区对华南梅花鹿的声音通讯行为进行了初步研究,得到4种特点较为分明的梅花鹿叫声类型,即警戒叫声、求偶叫声、呼唤叫声和团体合唱声,并对这4类叫声的生物学意义进行了初步分析.     

同一噪音环境下武夷湍蛙与凹耳蛙的求偶鸣声特征比较及其适应策略

为了解同域分布的两种无尾两栖类动物武夷湍蛙(Amolops wuyiensis)和凹耳蛙(Odorrana tormotus)在高噪音环境下的求偶鸣声特征及其适应策略,该研究利用超声录音设备录制并分析了繁殖季节武夷湍蛙和凹耳蛙雄性个体在同一噪音环境下的求偶鸣声。结果显示,繁殖期武夷湍蛙在不同时段均能发出3~6个音节数不等的单一鸣声,每个音节由2~10个声脉冲组成,鸣声平均持续时间为2198.20ms,主频为2231.90Hz,信噪声强差为33.00dB,且鸣声不含超声组分,不具备超声通讯的基础。凹耳蛙在每天的18:00—21:00有集中鸣叫行为,鸣声平均持续时间为331.80ms,主频为6665.50Hz,信噪声强差为37.00dB,且鸣声谐波包含超声组分,与前人描述一致。经进一步分析发现,武夷湍蛙和凹耳蛙的鸣声主频和声强均高于背景噪音,噪音不会对其鸣声产生掩蔽作用。通过比较分析得知,武夷湍蛙鸣声主频率<凹耳蛙,推测其声信号传播距离相对后者更远,该蛙在噪音环境下有可能通过调整自身的发声策略(即采用多音节鸣叫声、增加鸣叫时长和鸣叫频次等)来完成种内通讯,并通过改变鸣声时长来体现雄性自身的品质,以便提高对雌性的吸引力。而相同噪音环境下的凹耳蛙则可能采用较为节约能量的方式提高声信号频率的通讯策略,完成种内竞争和交流。     

环境丰容对笼养川金丝猴日常行为以及粪便皮质醇水平的影响

在笼养条件下,由于有限的空间和单调的笼舍结构,川金丝猴行为和生理指标发生变化,包括出现刻板行为和产生较高的粪便内应激激素。本论文旨在研究环境丰容对笼养川金丝猴日常行为以及粪便皮质醇水平的影响。于2013年8月1日至11月1日对杭州动物园内7只川金丝猴进行环境丰容后的行为观察。采用瞬时扫描法记录上午08:30-10:30和下午14:00-16：00的动物行为,并统计15种行为的发生频率。比较丰容前后每种行为的发生频率,结果表明环境丰容降低了川金丝猴的不活跃行为（P=0.021）和刻板行为（P=0.034）,增加了其活跃行为频率（P=0.018）。环境丰容后,动物表现出更多的攀爬（P = 0.012）、探究（P = 0.014）和环顾行为（P = 0.010）。粪便皮质醇激素的结果表明,除1只雄性个体激素上升外,其余6只个体的粪便皮质醇含量显著下降（P=0.028）。以上结果提示环境丰容可改善川金丝猴的福利状况。     

笼养朱鹮繁殖期的鸣声特征

于2005年4月采集到笼养朱鹮(Nipponia nippon)4种行为状态的鸣叫声,对其繁殖期求偶鸣叫、交尾鸣叫、假交尾鸣叫和惊叫的鸣声特征进行了分析,探讨了不同行为状态的鸣声差异。求偶鸣叫振幅小,主要频率范围在156±13.2 Hz-1 568±120.3 Hz之间(n=30),声谱谐波丰富,频带呈直线型和拱型。交尾鸣叫由7-21声连续、急促的鸣叫和一声长鸣组成,声音宏亮有力,频域特征表现为主频呈现双峰,主要频率范围在346±16.7 Hz-2 396±138.2 Hz之间(n=14),音节高度重复并多有谐波。假交尾叫声有三种声模式,模式1包含2-10声短促鸣叫声和一声长鸣;模式2仅发出多声短促鸣叫声;模式3仅一声长鸣,频域特征在三种声模式下表现不同,模式1主频呈现双峰,模式2和模式3仅有一个峰值,主要频率范围在328±18.2 Hz-2 067±189.1 Hz之间(n=38),声谱多谐波,频带形状呈下滑状或直线状。遇险惊叫声信号振幅最大,每一声信号中包含多个脉冲组,惊叫声主频较高,主要频率范围在375-2 300 Hz之间,声谱多谐波,低频频带呈直线型,高频频带呈半拱形,声音末尾有明显的降调。     

不同密度下和不同发情期时段中雄性麋鹿的繁殖计策

从1998年到2001年,我们研究了密度、发情期与雄性麋鹿繁殖计策的关系。我们选择了江苏大丰麋鹿保护区的两个麋鹿群体和北京麋鹿苑的一个麋鹿群体,观察记录了发情期前期、中期和后期中实验麋鹿种群参数、围栏大小、群体中雄鹿的繁殖计策、群主变更情况、后宫数目以及后宫雌鹿数。尽管不同种群和不同发情期的雄鹿繁殖计策有差异,但是各个群体中雄性麋鹿都有占群、偷袭交配和求偶集会3种繁殖计策。利用因子分析提取了两个主成分:主成分1主要代表实验围栏、麋鹿存栏数和密度等因子的影响,主成分2主要代表发情期时段因子的影响。这两个主成分解释了全部因素效应的90.72%。用Spearman相关分析发现,占群计策与主成分2呈极显著负相关,求偶集会计策与主成分1呈显著正相关,最大后宫雌鹿个体数与主成分1极显著正相关,而偷袭交配计策和后宫数目与主成分1和2均无显著相关。据此推测,占群和求偶集会繁殖计策分别受密度和发情期时段的影响,而偷袭交配行为对密度和发情期时段不敏感。我们还探讨了麋鹿发情行为计策的环境适应性,从行为学角度为麋鹿保护提供了新思路。     

城市公园中赤腹松鼠的家域特征及昼间活动规律初探

2015年12月至2016年5月,对上海动物园内活动的9只赤腹松鼠进行无线电遥测,应用Homing法进行空间定位,基于最小凸多边形（MCP）和95%固定 核空间（95%Kernel）模型估算城市绿地中赤腹松鼠的家域面积、空间分布特征及个体间的重叠情况,同时记录赤腹松鼠的昼间行为规律。赤腹松鼠 家域面积平均值为12376（MCP）~18146 m²（95%Kernel）,雌雄个体间家域面积无显著差异（Independent-sample test,t= -0.101,P=0.922）。 赤腹松鼠冬季家域面积与春季家域面积间无显著差异（One way ANOVA,MCP：F=3.900,P=0.070;95%FK：F=3.566,P=0.081）。部分赤腹松鼠家域 间存在重叠,冬季重叠指数0.36~0.63,春季重叠指数0.02~0.43。赤腹松鼠的昼间行为以移动（29.4%）、取食（25.1%）和休息行为（24.7%）为主 。在不同季节,赤腹松鼠的取食行为发生显著变化（One way ANOVA,F=119.268,P<0.001）,冬季取食行为发生频率最高（33.3%）,夏季最低 （16.4%）;领域行为在夏（15.8%）、秋（16.2%）季发生频率较高,春季（5.8%）降低（One way ANOVA,F=140.416,P<0.001）。赤腹松鼠昼间 活动呈“U”型分布,主要集中于05:00—08:00和15:00—18:00,休息主要分布于12:00—13:00。     

大足鼠耳蝠的翼型和回声定位声波特征

大足鼠耳蝠(Myotis ricketti Thomas,1894)属翼手目(Chiroptera),蝙蝠科(Vespertilionidae),鼠耳蝠属(Myotis).     

Arctic roars – laryngeal anatomy and vocalization of the muskox (Ovibos moschatus Zimmermann, 1780, Bovidae)

The impressive roaring of adult male muskoxen most often occurs during rutting contests. Roaring in adult females is primarily relevant to mother–infant communication. Loud roars are produced by taking up a specific roaring posture. Acoustic recordings were made in a small herd of zoo muskoxen during three successive rutting seasons. Earlier recordings of a different herd were used for comparison. Head-and-neck specimens were subjected to vascular injection, macroscopic anatomical dissection, computer tomographic analysis and skeletonization. Isolated preserved larynges of young animals were dissected for ontogenetic comparison. Despite a pronounced sexual dimorphism of head mass, larynx size is almost identical in adult male and female muskoxen, as is the fundamental frequency of their roars. Remarkably, the larynges of both sexes of muskoxen are provided with an unpaired ventrorostral ventricle. Probably, this ventricle is inflated during the initial phase of a roar. The ventricle may have two functions: to increase the amplitude of roaring and to darken the timbre of the roars by acting as an additional resonance space. The vocal fold of adult female and young individuals has a sharp rostral edge and a vocal ligament is still present. During male ontogeny the vocal ligament becomes transformed into a large fat pad extending into the wall of the laryngeal vestibulum. Accordingly, the glottic region in the adult male lacks any sharp edges of the mucosa. In both sexes the thyroarytenoid muscle is divided into three portions. A single roar may comprise phases of different sound volume. The roars of both muskox sexes are characterized by a pulsed structure. We suggest that two oscillating systems are involved in the production of roars: one comprising only the medial portion of the vocal fold and one including its lateral portion.     

Do Red Deer Stags (Cervus elaphus) Use Roar Fundamental Frequency (F0) to Assess Rivals?

It is well established that in humans, male voices are disproportionately lower pitched than female voices, and recent studies suggest that this dimorphism in fundamental frequency (F0) results from both intrasexual (male competition) and intersexual (female mate choice) selection for lower pitched voices in men. However, comparative investigations indicate that sexual dimorphism in F0 is not universal in terrestrial mammals. In the highly polygynous and sexually dimorphic Scottish red deer Cervus elaphus scoticus, more successful males give sexually-selected calls (roars) with higher minimum F0s, suggesting that high, rather than low F0s advertise quality in this subspecies. While playback experiments demonstrated that oestrous females prefer higher pitched roars, the potential role of roar F0 in male competition remains untested. Here we examined the response of rutting red deer stags to playbacks of re-synthesized male roars with different median F0s. Our results show that stags’ responses (latencies and durations of attention, vocal and approach responses) were not affected by the F0 of the roar. This suggests that intrasexual selection is unlikely to strongly influence the evolution of roar F0 in Scottish red deer stags, and illustrates how the F0 of terrestrial mammal vocal sexual signals may be subject to different selection pressures across species. Further investigations on species characterized by different F0 profiles are needed to provide a comparative background for evolutionary interpretations of sex differences in mammalian vocalizations.     

Roaring Behavior of Two Syntopic Howler Species (Alouatta caraya and A. guariba clamitans): Evidence Supports the Mate Defense Hypothesis

Long-distance calls are loud vocalizations involved in within and between group communication in animals. These calls may maintain cohesion with group members or communicate the ownership of valuable resources such as territory, food, or mates to individuals from other groups. In howlers (Alouatta spp.), three nonmutually exclusive hypotheses suggest that the ultimate function of roaring (howling) behavior is to protect resources from neighboring groups. The space/food defense hypothesis maintains that roars are used to gain exclusive access to food; the mate defense hypothesis holds that roars ensure exclusive access to mates; and the infanticide avoidance hypothesis states that the roaring behavior serves to avoid male takeovers and infanticide. To test these three hypotheses, we conducted a study on black-and-gold howlers (Alouatta caraya) and brown howlers (A. guariba clamitans) living in syntopy at El Pi?alito provincial park in northeast Argentina. We recorded 12 mo of data on the roaring behavior of two groups of each species, along with data on food availability and diet. Although all four groups overlapped extensively in their use of food resources during the study period, roars occurred much more frequently during interactions between groups of the same species than between groups of different species. Roaring frequency was not higher during the lean season, when high-quality food was less abundant. Howlers did not roar more frequently at home range boundaries, nor were roaring bouts spatially associated with valuable feeding resources. Males participated in all of the roaring bouts, whereas females participated in only 29% of them. Adults did not roar more frequently when there were unweaned infants in the group, as expected if roaring behavior decreases infanticide risk. These results provide no support for the food defense or infanticide avoidance hypotheses, but support predictions derived from the mate defense hypothesis.     

Sound production in the whitemouth croaker and relationship between fish size and disturbance call characteristics

The whitemouth croaker produces two different sounds using extrinsic sonic muscles: (1) male advertisement calls during the spawning season and (2) disturbance calls, produced by both sexes. The advertisement call, related to courtship, was recorded in the field and from two marked spawning males of 28 and 30.5 cm L_T in the laboratory. It consists of individual pulses with average durations of 19.7 ms and 17.8 ms for the two males respectively, interpulse intervals of 496 ms and 718 ms, and dominant frequencies of 280 Hz and 316 Hz. Pulses are emitted in bouts of one to three min duration. Disturbance calls consist of a burst of pulses produced at short intervals, and the pulse duration, interpulse interval and dominant frequency of the pulses average 19.8 ms, 17.1 ms, and 363 Hz, respectively. Dominant frequency and interpulse interval decrease and pulse duration increases with fish size. Sound characteristics change markedly in young of the year individuals (lower than 25 cm L_T) after which they appear to stabilize. Higher dominant frequency in the advertisement than in the disturbance call and the relationship of dominant frequency to pulse duration suggest that dominant frequency is determined as a forced response to muscle contraction parameters rather than by the natural frequency of the swimbladder.     

Possible species specific courtship sounds by two sympatric cichlid fishes in Lake Malawi, Africa

Sounds were produced by the males of two species of cichlid fishes while courting females. Each courtship sound consisted of a series of distinct pulses occurring in rapid succession. Courtship sounds produced by Tramitichromis cf. intermedius and Copadichromis conophorus were significantly different in pulse rate and individual pulse durations. For C. conophorus calls (n=127) the mean ± sd number of pulses per call was 10 ± 3 and call duration was 181 ± 59 ms. There was a significant positive linear relationship between call duration and the number of pulses (r²=0.912, p < 0.001). The dominant frequency of the pulses in calls was 471 ± 50 (range 372–594) Hz (n=40 calls). T. cf. intermedius also produced a pulsed courtship call; data (mean ± sd) from two male T. cf. intermedius: 9 ± 2 pulses per call and duration 199 ± 44 ms (n=20 calls). The linear regression between call duration and number of pulses was positive (r²=0.463, p=0.001). Pulse rate within calls of T. cf. intermedius compared to C. conophorus were significantly different (p=0.018). Individual pulse durations were also significantly different (p=0.043) between species. However, interpulse intervals were not significantly different (p=0.177). These cichlids produced courtship sounds that were distinct by individual pulse durations and by pulse repition rate in a call.     

Evolutionary and neurobiological implications of selective phonotaxis in the spring peeper (Hyla crucifer)

Males of the spring peeper (Hyla crucifer) in central Missouri produce frequency-modulated, sinusoidal advertisement calls with a duration of 90–250 ms, and a mid-point frequency of 2800–3360 Hz. The frequency of the call is inversely correlated with body size. In playback experiments with synthetic stimuli, females did not prefer a frequency-modulated call to a call of constant frequency. Females preferred a call with a duration of 150 ms to sounds with durations of 40, 75 and 400 ms; a call of 300 ms was just as attractive as the 150-ms call. Females preferred a call of 2875 Hz to alternatives of 4000 Hz and 2600 Hz. The auditory system of H. crucifer is thus only roughly tuned to the temporal and spectral properties of the advertisement call. The female's specificity with respect to duration alone is adequate for species recognition, but intraspecific mate choice based on call frequency is extremely unlikely.     

苏格兰拉姆岛上野化山羊种群的取食生态学

2000年6～11月对苏格兰拉姆岛上野化山羊(Capra hircus)种群的取食生态学进行了研究.研究表明:山羊的觅食回合长度变化范围从1min到460 min不等,平均觅食回合长度是103.1±15.0 (SD)min,雌性动物的觅食回合长度较雄性的长(P=0.077).野化山羊单位时间的取食频率平均为46.3±0.6 口/min,取食频率随性别(P=0.023)和月份(P<0.001)而显著变化.雄性山羊在繁殖交配之前(6～7月)和之后(10～11月)的取食频率比繁殖交配期中(9～10月)的快(P<0.008),但雌性动物并没有这样的变化(P=0.327).雄性动物在繁殖交配期中的取食时间显著减少.雌、雄两性动物在取食频次和取食时间方面的这些差异可能导致该山羊种群在食物摄入量上的性别差异:雌性山羊的食物摄入量相对比较稳定,而雄性山羊的摄入量则变动很大.估计的食物摄入量随月份而下降(尽管9月份以后有一微小幅度的上升),这意味着拉姆岛上的山羊种群在食物匮乏而天气寒冷潮湿的冬季可能面临着能量收支不平衡的威胁.