Overmarking by adult females in four equid species: social bonds and group cohesion

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F18%3A43897651" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/18:43897651 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/00027014:_____/18:N0000232

Result on the web

<a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jzo.12578" target="_blank" >https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jzo.12578</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12578" target="_blank" >10.1111/jzo.12578</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Overmarking by adult females in four equid species: social bonds and group cohesion

Original language description

Scent marking by overmarking deposits made by conspecifics has been well studied in male mammals, but this phenomenon remains poorly understood and rarely studied in females. Furthermore, in socially living mammals like most ungulate species many of the established hypotheses cannot be applied, leaving the function of female overmarking unexplained. In this study, we suggest and test a novel hypothesis: maintenance of social bonds. We examined the occurrence of adult female overmarking in equids and test three classical hypotheses which may explain this phenomenon: group cohesion, intrasexual competition and social hierarchy. We observed all African equid species (Equus africanus, E. grevyi, E. quagga, E. zebra) in five zoos. In total, we recorded 4668 eliminations by 130 individuals; 327 of these events were overmarked by 69 individual females representing all species. Adult females overmarked individuals of each age and sex category, but mostly other females and foals. The rate of overmarking within a dyad of adult females increased with increasing &apos;friendship&apos; of the dyad, thus demonstrating for the first time that overmarking can serve to support social bonds in mammals. In addition, we found a higher overmarking rate among females in the temporary absence of a stallion than in his presence suggesting partial support for the group cohesion hypothesis. On the other hand, we found no evidence supporting hypotheses of intrasexual competition and social hierarchy. We suggest that the use of overmarking to maintain social bonds may be more important in mammals like equids that live in groups of unrelated individuals.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10613 - Zoology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2018

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Zoology

ISSN

0952-8369

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

306

Issue of the periodical within the volume

3

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

9

Pages from-to

180-188

UT code for WoS article

000449945800006

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85055886540