Abstract
The Northern chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) is a weakly polygynous species widely distributed in the mountain regions of Europe and the Near East. The Balkan chamois (R. r. balcanica) occurs in the mountain regions of southeastern Europe, and its ecology and behavior during the rut are largely unknown, making it one of the most understudied subspecies of chamois. Despite the scarce body mass dimorphism, males display a developed behavioral polymorphism that affects the mating success and possibly survival. Here, we provide the first quantitative analysis of the behavioral repertoire and activity budget of rutting male Balkan chamois and compare frequencies of different behavioral categories (i.e., courtship and direct and indirect aggression) with those observed in Alpine (R. r. rupicapra) and Tatra (R. r. tatrica) chamois. Male Balkan chamois have a rich behavioral repertoire (24 different behavioral patterns) with a prevalence of courtship behaviors and a higher frequency of indirect than direct forms of aggression. Compared with Alpine and Tatra chamois, no significant difference in the frequency of different behavioral categories was detected. The activity budget showed that when not rutting, males spent ~ 41% of their time foraging and ~ 59% lying down. Time spent rutting was negatively correlated with time spent foraging and time spent lying down, suggesting that time spent for mating activities increased at the expense of foraging and resting. In dominant males, the frequency of courtship behavior was higher than the frequency of aggressive behaviors, whereas in subordinate males, no differences were detected among behavioral patterns. Furthermore, no significant differences in activity budgets were detected between male types. This is the first report of Balkan chamois rutting behavior and provides important insights into the ecology of a poorly known subspecies.
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All the data supporting the results in the manuscript is still processing for additional analysis. Therefore, data are under embargo for one year after submission. After that period, scripts and other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper will be archived in an appropriate public repository.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the RESBIOS European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (No. 872146). We express our appreciation to the park staff members of Nature Park Biokovo and Hrvatske Šume Ltd for support and organization of the research.
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KK wrote all drafts of the manuscript and did the statistical analyses. MA and LC conceptualized the framework, revised all drafts of the manuscript and helped with the statistical analyses. KK obtained and arranged raw data. NŠ and MA supervised all stages of this work, from data collection to data analysis, and participated in revising the manuscript.
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Kavčić, K., Apollonio, M., Corlatti, L. et al. Rutting behavior of male Balkan chamois. Mamm Biol 101, 895–905 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-021-00141-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-021-00141-2