当前位置：
X-MOL 学术
›
Eur. J. Wildl. Res.
›
论文详情
Our official English website, www.x-mol.net, welcomes your feedback! (Note: you will need to create a separate account there.)
Diet differences between males and females in sexually dimorphic ungulates: a case study on Siberian ibex
European Journal of Wildlife Research ( IF 2 ) Pub Date : 2020-06-17 , DOI: 10.1007/s10344-020-01387-w Lei Han , David Blank , Muyang Wang , António Alves da Silva , Weikang Yang , Kathreen Ruckstuhl , Joana Alves
European Journal of Wildlife Research ( IF 2 ) Pub Date : 2020-06-17 , DOI: 10.1007/s10344-020-01387-w Lei Han , David Blank , Muyang Wang , António Alves da Silva , Weikang Yang , Kathreen Ruckstuhl , Joana Alves
More in-depth knowledge is required regarding the diet composition and food preferences of ungulates to improve our understanding of their different feeding strategies and mechanisms for adaptation. In particular, differences in energetic demands and feeding behaviors between the sexes, in sexually dimorphic species, may lead to significant dietary differences, which may partly explain sexual segregation patterns. Diet differences between sexes in Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica) are still poorly understood. We investigated the diet of Siberian ibex in the Tianshan Mountains (China), using fecal micro-histological analyses, to understand to what extent sex and season can explain differences in diet composition. In our study area, males and females had different diet compositions during the warm season: males preferred the most abundant plant species, with the greatest biomass, while females selected plants with higher nutritional content. Considering these results, the differences in the feeding strategies of the two sexes may indeed play a crucial role in promoting sexual segregation and preference for different habitats. During the cold season, the diet overlap between males and females was higher, coinciding with a random association between the sexes, during which males and females seem to live in both mixed and unisex groups and share the same habitats. Therefore, we concluded that sexual segregation is a result not only of differences in diet composition but also of differences in the social behaviors and habitat preferences between the sexes, leading to deferential activity budgets and habitat selection that in association with feeding strategies may explain sexual segregation in Siberian ibex.
更新日期：2020-06-17
京公网安备 11010802027423号