Browsing by Author "Wang, Muyang"

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    The effect of male age on patterns of sexual segregation in Siberian ibex
    (2018-08-30) Wang, Muyang; Alves, Joana; Alves da Silva, António; Yang, Weikang; Ruckstuhl, Kathreen E.
    Sexual segregation is very common in sexually size dimorphic ungulates and may be the result of different habitat preferences and/or differential social behaviours of males and females. Various hypotheses have been put forward to explain this phenomenon. In the present research, we examined sexual segregation in a quite poorly-understood species, the Siberian ibex. The species presents a marked sexual size dimorphism, with adult males weighing double as much as females. We use the Sexual Segregation and Aggregation Statistics (SSAS) to analyze the sex-age patterns of sexual segregation in this species, to understand the relevance of social factors. Our results show that adult Siberian ibex males were socially segregated from females all year-round, except during the rutting season. Furthermore, the degree of segregation between females and males was influenced by the age of males. Moreover, the patterns of social segregation within males also increased with male age, reaching maximum values for males of 9-years-old and older, which means male age plays an important role in the sexual segregation of this species. This study clearly shows that social factors play a key role in the sexual segregation of Siberian ibex.
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    Effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on ruminating, grazing, and bedding time in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis)
    (Public Library of Science, 2018-10-29) Wang, Muyang; Alves, Joana; Tucker, Meghan; Yang, Weikang; Ruckstuhl, Kathreen E
    Rumination is the repeated process of regurgitation of a food bolus, followed by chewing, swallowing, and regurgitation, which enhance nutrient assimilation. Time spent in lateral recumbency (i.e., bedded, lying) has often been used as a proxy for time spent ruminating due to difficulties of observing detailed rumination behavior in the field. The actual proportion of time spent ruminating, or other activities, will in turn be affected by the age and sex of an individual but also with changes in food quality. We studied the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on time spent ruminating, bedding, proportion of bedding time spent ruminating, and grazing of individually marked bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Our results show that bighorn sheep spent more time ruminating and less time grazing in summer and autumn. Overall, females spent less time ruminating, and more time grazing than males. Bighorn sheep decreased their time spent ruminating with increasing acid detergent fiber (ADF) content in the forage. Age influenced the time spent grazing, bedded and proportion of bedded time spent ruminating. Older sheep not only increased their bedding time but also their time spent bedded without ruminating compared to younger individuals. The proportion of time spent grazing was also affected by age, with a decrease in the proportion of time spent grazing with increasing age. Our results suggest that these four behaviors are plastic and variable. We thus conclude that bedding time does not reflect time spent ruminating but that the latter is affected by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors.