Determinants of vigilance in a reintroduced population of Père David's deer
After being kept in captivity and isolated from natural predators for more than 1,200 years, Père David’s deer has been reintroduced in China and now occurs in a reserve where human activity is the only potential threat. Antipredator vigilance is an important component of survival for many prey anim...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press
2013-04-01
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| Series: | Current Zoology |
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| Online Access: | http://www.currentzoology.org/paperdetail.asp?id=12196 |
| _version_ | 1819053731580215296 |
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| author | Wei ZHENG, Guy BEAUCHAMP, Xuelei JIANG, Zhongqiu LI, Qinglong YANG |
| author_facet | Wei ZHENG, Guy BEAUCHAMP, Xuelei JIANG, Zhongqiu LI, Qinglong YANG |
| author_sort | Wei ZHENG, Guy BEAUCHAMP, Xuelei JIANG, Zhongqiu LI, Qinglong YANG |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | After being kept in captivity and isolated from natural predators for more than 1,200 years, Père David’s deer has been reintroduced in China and now occurs in a reserve where human activity is the only potential threat. Antipredator vigilance is an important component of survival for many prey animals in their natural habitat. Do deer still adjust vigilance as a function of risk after such a long period of relaxed predation pressure? Here, we examined vigilance levels in Père David’s deer groups as a function of group size, sex and level of human disturbance. The results showed that individual vigilance significantly decreased with group size in all-female groups but not in all-males or mixed-sex groups. In rutting season, males compete with one another and harass females, and we argue that vigilance is partly aimed at threatening males and that such vigilance increases with group size. This explains why overall vigilance did not vary with group size for males in general and for females in mixed-sex groups. Vigilance increased in more disturbed areas but in in male deer only. The results indicate that despite relaxed predation pressure over centuries, Père David’s deer can still adjust antipredator responses as a function of perceived risk. Such information may become useful in the rewilding programme now under way for this species in China [Current Zoology 59 (2): 265–270, 2013]. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:40:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1f40421b52aa411488c73f42a4c1a520 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1674-5507 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:40:23Z |
| publishDate | 2013-04-01 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Current Zoology |
| spelling | doaj.art-1f40421b52aa411488c73f42a4c1a5202022-12-21T19:03:48ZengOxford University PressCurrent Zoology1674-55072013-04-01592265270Determinants of vigilance in a reintroduced population of Père David's deerWei ZHENG, Guy BEAUCHAMP, Xuelei JIANG, Zhongqiu LI, Qinglong YANGAfter being kept in captivity and isolated from natural predators for more than 1,200 years, Père David’s deer has been reintroduced in China and now occurs in a reserve where human activity is the only potential threat. Antipredator vigilance is an important component of survival for many prey animals in their natural habitat. Do deer still adjust vigilance as a function of risk after such a long period of relaxed predation pressure? Here, we examined vigilance levels in Père David’s deer groups as a function of group size, sex and level of human disturbance. The results showed that individual vigilance significantly decreased with group size in all-female groups but not in all-males or mixed-sex groups. In rutting season, males compete with one another and harass females, and we argue that vigilance is partly aimed at threatening males and that such vigilance increases with group size. This explains why overall vigilance did not vary with group size for males in general and for females in mixed-sex groups. Vigilance increased in more disturbed areas but in in male deer only. The results indicate that despite relaxed predation pressure over centuries, Père David’s deer can still adjust antipredator responses as a function of perceived risk. Such information may become useful in the rewilding programme now under way for this species in China [Current Zoology 59 (2): 265–270, 2013].http://www.currentzoology.org/paperdetail.asp?id=12196Antipredator vigilanceGroup sizeHuman disturbanceSexual competitionPère David's deer |
| spellingShingle | Wei ZHENG, Guy BEAUCHAMP, Xuelei JIANG, Zhongqiu LI, Qinglong YANG Determinants of vigilance in a reintroduced population of Père David's deer Current Zoology Antipredator vigilance Group size Human disturbance Sexual competition Père David's deer |
| title | Determinants of vigilance in a reintroduced population of Père David's deer |
| title_full | Determinants of vigilance in a reintroduced population of Père David's deer |
| title_fullStr | Determinants of vigilance in a reintroduced population of Père David's deer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Determinants of vigilance in a reintroduced population of Père David's deer |
| title_short | Determinants of vigilance in a reintroduced population of Père David's deer |
| title_sort | determinants of vigilance in a reintroduced population of pere david s deer |
| topic | Antipredator vigilance Group size Human disturbance Sexual competition Père David's deer |
| url | http://www.currentzoology.org/paperdetail.asp?id=12196 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT weizhengguybeauchampxueleijiangzhongqiuliqinglongyang determinantsofvigilanceinareintroducedpopulationofperedavidsdeer |