Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of cohort, sex, and birth date on body development of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) fawns

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We investigated the effects of the year of birth (cohort effect), sex and birth date on the variations observed in birth weight and postnatal growth rate in 209 newborn fawns marked during eight consecutive fawning seasons from a highly productive roe deer population under good nutritional conditions. Roe deer exhibited a fast body development with a birth weight of 1628 g and a postnatal growth rate of 139 g/day constant over the first 20 days of their life. As previously reported for dimorphic and polygynous ungulates, there was a marked cohort effect on the rate of body development. This variability was partly explained by climatic conditions during late gestation. When fewer than 5 days with rainfall over 5 mm occurred in April, fawns were heavier. High temperatures during April and during the winter could also be involved in fast body development of roe deer fawns. Sex of fawn did not affect roe deer growth pattern. This was expected on the basis of low sexual dimorphism in size and low polygyny level characteristic of roe deer. Lastly, the date of birth did not affect the body development of roe deer fawns. High constancy of mean birth dates and high synchrony of births observed in this population could account for this result.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albon SD, Guinness FE, Clutton-Brock TH (1983) The influence of climatic variation on the birth weights of red deer (Cervus elaphus). J Zool 200:295–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Albon SD, Clutton-Brock TH, Guinness FE (1987) Early development and population dynamics in red deer. II. Density-independent effects and cohort-variation. J Anim Ecol 56:69–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander RD, Hoogland JL, Howard RD, Noonan KM, Cherman PW (1979) Sexual dimorphism and breeding systems in pinnipeds, ungulates, primates and humans. In: Chagnon NA, Irons W (eds), Evolutionary biology and human social behavior. Duxbury, North Scituate, pp 402–435

  • Baker RJ, Nelder JA (1978) the GLIM system release 3. Generalized linear interactive modelling manual. NAG, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartush WS, Gardner GW (1979) Physical characteristics of whitetailed deer fawns in southwestern Oklahoma. Proc Southeast Assoc Fish Wildl Agencies 31:126–133

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergerud AT (1975) The reproductive season of Newfoundland caribou. Can J Zool 53:1213–1221

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaxter KL, Hamilton WJ (1980) Reproduction in farmed red deer. 2. Calf growth and mortality. J Agric Sci Cambridge 95:275–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Boutin JM, Gaillard JM, Delorme D, Van Laere L (1987) Suivi de l'évolution de la fécondité chez le chevreuil (Capreolus capreolus) par l'observation des groupes familiaux. Gibier Faune Sauvage 4:255–265

    Google Scholar 

  • Case TJ (1978) On the evolution and adaptive significance of postnatal growth rates in the terrestrial vertebrates. Q Rev Biol 53:243–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Caughley G (1977) Analysis of vertebrate populations. Wiley and Sons, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock TH (1988) Reproductive success. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock TH, Albon SD (1982) Parental investment in male and female offspring in mammals. In: King's College Sociobiology Group, Cambridge (eds) Current problems in sociobiology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 223–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock TH, Albon SD (1989) Red deer in the Highlands. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock TH, Guinness FE, Albon SD (1982) Red deer. Behaviour and ecology of two sexes. Chicago University Press, Chicago and Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock TH, Albon SD, Guinness FE (1988) Reproductive success in male and female red deer. In: Clutton-Brock TH (ed) Reproductive success. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 325–343

    Google Scholar 

  • Delorme D, Gaillard JM, Jullien JM (1988) Intérêt de l'étude de la période juvénile pour le suivi de l'évolution d'une population de chevreuils (Capreolus capreolus). Gibier Faune Sauvage 5:15–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Dittus WPJ (1979) The evolution of behaviors regulating density and age-specific sex-ratios in a primate population. Behaviour 69:265–302

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman DS, Hofman R, Gagnon J, Simpson J (1987) Statview II. La solution pour l'analyse de données et la représentation graphique. Abacus Concept Inc, Berkeley, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaillard JM (1988) Contribution à la dynamique des populations de grands mammifères: l'exemple du chevreuil (Capreolus capreolus). Unpublished doctoral thesis, Univ. Lyon, France

  • Gaillard JM, Delorme D (1989) Selection des sites de repos par les jeunes chevreuils (Capreolus capreolus). Acta Oecol 10:411–418

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaillard JM, Boisaubert B, Boutin JM, Clobert J (1985) Analyse préliminaire des taux de survie de deux populations françaises de chevreuil. In: XVII th Congr. Int. Union Game Biol, Brussels, pp 261–268

  • Gaillard JM, Boisaubert B, Boutin JM, Clobert J (1986) L'estimation d'effectifs à partir de capture-marquage-recapture: application au chevreuil (Capreolus capreolus). Gibier Faune Sauvage 3:143–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaillard JM, Pontier D, Allainé D, Lebreton JD, Trouvilliez J, Clobert J (1989) An analysis of demographic tactics in birds and mammals. Oikos 56:59–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaillard JM, Delorme D, Jullien JM, Tatin D (1993) Fawning times and birth synchrony in roe deer. J Mammal (in press)

  • Geist V (1988) Sexual dimorphism in the cervidae and its relation to habitat. J Zool 214:45–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Gittleman JL, Oftedal OT (1987) Comparative growth and lactation energetics in carnivores. Symp Zool Soc London, 57:41–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Guinness FE, Clutton-Brock TH, Albon SD (1978) Factors affecting calf mortality in red deer. J Anim Ecol 47:817–832

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson AL (1982) Notes on the behaviour of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) at Cheddington, Dorset, 1970–1980. (Forestry Commission Research and Development Paper 130) Forestry Commission, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Jullien JM, Delorme D, Gaillard JM (1992) Détermination de l'âge chez le faon de chevreuil (Capreolus capreolus) dans son premier mois de vie. Mammalia 56:307–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitts WD, Cowan IMcT, Bandy J, Wood AJ (1956) The immediate postnatal growth in the Columbian black-tailed deer in relation to the composition of the milk of the doe. J Wildl Manage 20:212–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs CJ, Cowan IMcT (1962) Growth studies of reindeer fawns. Can J Zool 40:863–869

    Google Scholar 

  • Liberg O, Johansson A, Wahlstrom K (1989) Behavioral tactics and variance in reproductive success in male roe deer. Int Theriol Congr 5:824

    Google Scholar 

  • Maublanc ML, Cibien C, Gaillard JM, Maizeret C, Bideau E, Vincent JP (1991) Le chevreuil. Rev Ecol (Terre Vie) Suppl 6:155–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller FL, Broughton E (1974) Calf mortality on the calving ground of Kaminuriak caribou. Can Wildl Serv Rep Ser 26

  • Mitchell B (1971) The weights of newborn to one-day-old red deer calves in Scottish moorland habitats. J Zool London 164:250–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson JA, Woolf A (1985) Birth size and growth of deer fawns in southern Illinois. J Wildl Manage 49:374–377

    Google Scholar 

  • Niethammer J, Krapp F (1986) Handbuch der Säugetiere Europas. Paarhufer. Artiodactyla (Suidae, Cervidae, Bovidae). AULA Wiensbaden

    Google Scholar 

  • Pontier D, Gaillard JM, Allainé D (1993) Maternal investment per offspring and demographic tactics in placental mammals. Oikos 66 (in press)

  • Ricklefs RE (1968) Patterns of growth in birds. Ibis 110:419–451

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins CT, Moen AN (1975) Milk consumption and weight gain of white-tailed deer. J Wildl Manage 39:355–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins CT, Robbins BL (1979) Fetal and neonatal growth patterns and maternal reproductive effort in ungulates and subungulates. Am Nat 114:101–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Rongmö A, Markussen KA, Jacobsen E, Blix AS (1983) Effects of improved nutrition in pregnant reindeer on milk quality, calf birth weight, growth and mortality. Rangifer 3:10–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadleir RMFS (1969) The ecology of reproduction in wild and domestic mammals. London

  • Sadleir RMFS (1984) Ecological consequences of lactation. Acta Zool Fenn 171:179–182

    Google Scholar 

  • Sägesser H, Kurt F (1966) Uber die Setzzeit 1965 beim Reh (Capreolus c. L.). Mitt Naturforsch Ges Bern, N F 23:21–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Skogland T (1983) The effects of density dependent resource limitation on size of wild reindeer. Oecologia 60:156–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Skogland T (1984) The effects of food and maternal conditions on fetal growth and size in wild reindeer. Rangifer 4:39–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Skogland T (1990) Density-dependence in a fluctuating wild reindeer herd; maternal vs offspring effects. Oecologia 84:442–450

    Google Scholar 

  • Strandgaard H (1972) An investigation of corporea lutea, embryonic development and time of birth of roe deer in Denmark. Dan Rev Game Biol 6:1–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson CB, Holter JB, Hayes HH, Silver H, Urban WE (1973) Nutrition of white-tailed deer. I. Energy requirements of fawns. J Wildl Manage 37:301–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorne ET, Dean RE, Hepworth WC (1976) Nutrition during gestation in relation to successful reproduction in elk. J Wildl Manage 40:330–335

    Google Scholar 

  • Verme LJ (1963) Effects of nutrition on growth of white-tailed deer fawns. N Am Wildl Conf 24:431–442

    Google Scholar 

  • Verme LJ (1977) Assessment of natal mortality in Upper Michigan deer. J Wildl Manage 41:700–708

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallmo OC (1981) Mule and black-tailed deer of North America. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln London

    Google Scholar 

  • Wayre P (1967) Artificial rearing of roe deer and fallow deer at Norsfolk Wildlife Park. Int Zoo Yearb 7:168–171

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. URA CNRS 243, UCB Lyon 1, 43 Boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622, Villeurbanne Cédex, France

    J. M. Gaillard

  2. Office National de la Chasse, 85bis Avenue de Wagram, 75017, Paris, France

    D. Delorme & J. M. Jullien

Authors
  1. J. M. Gaillard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. D. Delorme
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. M. Jullien
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gaillard, J.M., Delorme, D. & Jullien, J.M. Effects of cohort, sex, and birth date on body development of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) fawns. Oecologia 94, 57–61 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317301

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317301

Key words

Search

Navigation