Cargando…

Evaluating the responses of a territorial solitary carnivore to potential mates and competitors

Successful communication is critical to the fitness of individuals and maintenance of populations, but less is known regarding the social contexts and reactions to scent marking by other individuals in solitary carnivores, including pumas. We evaluated the responses of resident male pumas to visitat...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Allen, Maximilian L., Yovovich, Veronica, Wilmers, Christopher C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4890113/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27251230
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep27257
_version_ 1782435071228116992
author Allen, Maximilian L.
Yovovich, Veronica
Wilmers, Christopher C.
author_facet Allen, Maximilian L.
Yovovich, Veronica
Wilmers, Christopher C.
author_sort Allen, Maximilian L.
collection PubMed
description Successful communication is critical to the fitness of individuals and maintenance of populations, but less is known regarding the social contexts and reactions to scent marking by other individuals in solitary carnivores, including pumas. We evaluated the responses of resident male pumas to visitation and scent marking by potential competitors (other male pumas) and potential mates (female pumas) by capturing and marking 46 pumas (Puma concolor), and documenting scent marking behaviours using motion-triggered video cameras. By comparing resident male puma visitation rates and communication behaviours in response to either male or female visitors, we found that their visitation and communication behaviours were best explained by the combination of visitation by both competitors and potential mates. Resident males returned to scent marking sites more quickly and increased their rate of flehmen response after visitation by a females, while they increased their rate of visitation and duration of visits in response to other males. Male pumas also visited less frequently in summer and autumn when female visitation rates were lower, but males created nearly twice as many scrapes during these visits. This study suggests that advertising for mates when scent marking may sometimes overshadow the importance of deterring competitors and claiming territory.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4890113
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Nature Publishing Group
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-48901132016-06-09 Evaluating the responses of a territorial solitary carnivore to potential mates and competitors Allen, Maximilian L. Yovovich, Veronica Wilmers, Christopher C. Sci Rep Article Successful communication is critical to the fitness of individuals and maintenance of populations, but less is known regarding the social contexts and reactions to scent marking by other individuals in solitary carnivores, including pumas. We evaluated the responses of resident male pumas to visitation and scent marking by potential competitors (other male pumas) and potential mates (female pumas) by capturing and marking 46 pumas (Puma concolor), and documenting scent marking behaviours using motion-triggered video cameras. By comparing resident male puma visitation rates and communication behaviours in response to either male or female visitors, we found that their visitation and communication behaviours were best explained by the combination of visitation by both competitors and potential mates. Resident males returned to scent marking sites more quickly and increased their rate of flehmen response after visitation by a females, while they increased their rate of visitation and duration of visits in response to other males. Male pumas also visited less frequently in summer and autumn when female visitation rates were lower, but males created nearly twice as many scrapes during these visits. This study suggests that advertising for mates when scent marking may sometimes overshadow the importance of deterring competitors and claiming territory. Nature Publishing Group 2016-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4890113/ /pubmed/27251230 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep27257 Text en Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Allen, Maximilian L.
Yovovich, Veronica
Wilmers, Christopher C.
Evaluating the responses of a territorial solitary carnivore to potential mates and competitors
title Evaluating the responses of a territorial solitary carnivore to potential mates and competitors
title_full Evaluating the responses of a territorial solitary carnivore to potential mates and competitors
title_fullStr Evaluating the responses of a territorial solitary carnivore to potential mates and competitors
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating the responses of a territorial solitary carnivore to potential mates and competitors
title_short Evaluating the responses of a territorial solitary carnivore to potential mates and competitors
title_sort evaluating the responses of a territorial solitary carnivore to potential mates and competitors
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4890113/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27251230
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep27257
work_keys_str_mv AT allenmaximilianl evaluatingtheresponsesofaterritorialsolitarycarnivoretopotentialmatesandcompetitors
AT yovovichveronica evaluatingtheresponsesofaterritorialsolitarycarnivoretopotentialmatesandcompetitors
AT wilmerschristopherc evaluatingtheresponsesofaterritorialsolitarycarnivoretopotentialmatesandcompetitors