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Effects of free-ranging, semi-captive and captive management on the acoustics of male rutting calls in Siberian wapiti Cervus elaphus sibiricus

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Abstract

In male European red deer Cervus elaphus, rutting calls that are responsible for male reproductive success are higher in fundamental frequency in captivity than in the wild. This study compares the acoustics of stag rutting calls among wild-living, semi-captive and captive stags within an Asian subspecies of C. elaphus, the Siberian wapiti Cervus elaphus sibiricus. Male Siberian wapiti rutting calls (bugles) were collected using automated recording systems in three populations (wild-living, semi-captive and captive), all originated from the Altai/Khakasian region of Central Siberia (Russia). Selected 435 bugles (145 per population) were analysed spectrographically for 14 variables of the bugle high (>1 kHz) fundamental frequency (g0) and scored for shape of g0 contour: trapeze, descending or saddle. Among bugles, 74.3% had the trapeze contour, 23.7% had the descending contour and 2.1% had the saddle contour. The additional low (<0.2 kHz) fundamental frequency (f0) was found in 76.1% of bugles, whereas deterministic chaos was found in 16.8% of bugles. Bugles of captive stags were shortest and highest in frequency. The captive management selectively affected only bugles with the trapeze contour, whereas bugles with descending contour remained unaffected by variations of deer holding regime. Stag rutting bugles are subspecies-specific and may therefore serve as acoustic indicator of subspecies for the Siberian wapiti among other Asian and American subspecies of wapiti.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of Khakasskiy State Nature Reserve for help and support, and the owners of deer facilities for providing possibility to work in their farms. We thank the anonymous reviewer for the valuable comments to the manuscript. This study has been conducted in collaboration with the staff of Khakasskiy State Nature Reserve, in accordance to its Siberian wapiti research project and in accordance to ethical and animal welfare standards. In all deer facilities, animal disturbance was kept at minimum, as the recording has been conducted automatically in the absence of people. The study was supported by Russian Science Foundation, grant no. 14-14-00237 (for OSG, IAV and EVV).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorobievy Gory, 1/12, Moscow, 119234, Russia

    Olga S. Golosova & Ilya A. Volodin

  2. Scientific Research Department, Moscow Zoo, B. Gruzinskaya str., 1, Moscow, 123242, Russia

    Ilya A. Volodin & Elena V. Volodina

  3. Khakasskiy State Nature Reserve, Tsukanov str., 164, Abakan, 655017, Russia

    Inna L. Isaeva

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  1. Olga S. Golosova
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  2. Ilya A. Volodin
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  3. Inna L. Isaeva
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  4. Elena V. Volodina
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Correspondence to Ilya A. Volodin.

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Communicated by: Karol Zub

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Supplementary Audio S1

Rutting bugles of male Siberian wapiti with trapeze contour, with descending contour and with saddle contour. (WAV 668 kb)

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Golosova, O.S., Volodin, I.A., Isaeva, I.L. et al. Effects of free-ranging, semi-captive and captive management on the acoustics of male rutting calls in Siberian wapiti Cervus elaphus sibiricus . Mamm Res 62, 387–396 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-017-0322-4

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