Sexual segregation has been intensely studied across diverse ecosystems and taxa, but studies are often limited to periods when animals occupy distinct seasonal ranges. Some avian and marine studies have revealed that habitat segregation, when sexes differ spatially or temporally in use of the physical landscape, is common during the migratory period and characterized by sex‐specific differences in migratory behaviors. Recent research highlights the importance of understanding movement patterns in the context of the full annual life cycle and highlights the need to extend relevant theories of sexual segregation to the migratory period. We tested predictions from two leading hypotheses of sexual segregation, the forage‐selection hypothesis (FSH) and the reproductive strategy hypothesis (RSH) as applied to the migratory period. We collected global positioning system (GPS) location data for male and female mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in south‐central Wyoming and northwest Colorado and tested the main predictions of the FSH and RSH. Both sexes showed high fidelity to their migratory routes, but route fidelity was more variable in males. Males also started spring migrations earlier, ended spring and autumn migrations later, and spent 22% more time on stopover sites during spring migrations. Consequently, males took twice as long in spring and 44% longer in autumn to complete migration. Our results revealed clear sex‐specific migratory behaviors and supported predictions of the RSH that male foraging behaviors optimize body condition for the autumn rut, and females prioritize foraging while balancing reproductive constraints. Specifically, males timed their movements with spring green‐up as optimally as females, and the timing of male migrations and use of stopovers suggested that males prioritized time in areas of high‐quality forage. This refutes predictions of the FSH during the migratory period that males should consistently choose habitats with abundant, low‐quality forage. Our findings provide an important contribution to sexual segregation theory by extending relevant theories to understand male and female movements during the migratory period.

中文翻译：

---

温带蹄类动物的特定性迁徙行为

在不同的生态系统和分类单元中对性别隔离进行了深入的研究，但研究通常仅限于动物占据不同季节范围的时期。一些鸟类和海洋研究表明，当两性在使用自然景观时在空间上或时间上不同时，栖息地隔离在迁徙期间很普遍，其特征是迁徙行为的性别特异性差异。最近的研究突出了在整个年度生命周期的背景下理解运动方式的重要性，并强调了将有关性隔离的理论延伸到移民时期的必要性。我们测试了两种主要的性别隔离假说，即用于游牧时期的饲草选择假说（FSH）和生殖策略假说（RSH）。海豚）在怀俄明州中南部和科罗拉多西北部，并测试了FSH和RSH的主要预测。男性和女性的迁徙路线都表现出较高的忠诚度，但男性的路线忠诚度却存在较大差异。雄性也较早开始春季迁徙，较晚结束春季和秋季迁徙，并在春季迁徙期间将中途停留的时间增加了22％。因此，男性完成迁徙所需的时间是春季的两倍和秋季的44％。我们的结果揭示了明确的按性别划分的迁徙行为，并支持RSH的预测，即男性觅食行为优化了秋季车辙的身体状况，而女性则优先考虑觅食，同时平衡了生殖限制。具体来说，雄性春季运动的时间与雌性最佳，男性迁徙的时机和中途停留的使用表明，男性优先考虑在优质草料地区的时间。这驳斥了在迁徙期间FSH的预测，即雄性应始终选择具有丰富，低质饲草的栖息地。我们的发现通过扩展相关理论以了解迁徙期间的男性和女性运动，为性隔离理论提供了重要的贡献。