Activity and social behaviour of farmed common eland<i> (Taurotragus</i><i> oryx),</i> and the effect of immunocastration thereon

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41340%2F24%3A101120" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41340/24:101120 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106189" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106189</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106189" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106189</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Activity and social behaviour of farmed common eland<i> (Taurotragus</i><i> oryx),</i> and the effect of immunocastration thereon

Original language description

Maintaining game animals under intensified captive conditions for production or ecotourism purposes has increased over recent years. This is especially true for the common eland, which was identified as an ideal species for captive production conditions due to its temperament and adaptability. However, little has been done to understand their social behaviour under captive conditions, especially when implementing management tools such as immunocastration, which is often used in wildlife in zoological gardens for contraception and may also aid in easing the management of eland males within mixed-sex herds in captivity, but which could potentially have adverse effects on the hierarchical rank of the immunocastrated animal, and thus welfare from a social perspective. Therefore, this study monitored the behaviour and hierarchical structure of captive common eland and the effects of immunocastrating male eland on their social rank, aggressive vs affiliative behaviours, and activity budget. Thirty common eland were divided into two groups consisting of sub-adults (n = 15; approximate to 2 years old) and juveniles (n = 15; approximate to 6 months old). Each group consisted of five intact males, five immunocastrated males, and five females. Vaccinations (Improvac (R), 2 mL per dose) were administered to the males assigned to the immunocastration treatment during week 3 and again in week 7 of the study. Behavioural observations were conducted every two weeks from week 1 of the study, for five months, using all occurrence sampling for dyadic social interactions and scan sampling for activity budget behaviours. The hierarchical structure of the two groups was examined, and the rates and proportion of dominant, aggressive and affiliative interactions were established using DomiCalc. The pre-vaccination period and the control animals (not vaccinated) were used as categories of reference. Overall, immunocastration reduced aggressive behaviour in juveniles, with no effect on activity and other agonistic behaviours. However, juveniles and subadults decreased their feeding behaviour post-vaccination and were more active socially. Immunocastration can potentially be used for controlling agonistic behaviour in farmed common eland.

Czech name

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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

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OECD FORD branch

40200 - Animal and Dairy science

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

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

Name of the periodical

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

ISSN

0168-1591

e-ISSN

0168-1591

Volume of the periodical

272

Issue of the periodical within the volume

MAR 2024

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

7

Pages from-to

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UT code for WoS article

001183745900001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85185479286