Flexibility in female spatiotemporal behavioral tactics to counter infanticide risk during the mating season
Our results suggest that mothers with offspring of any age perceive adult males as potential source of infanticide and use spatiotemporal avoidance tactics. Generally, family groups had high home range overlap with adult males, but family groups that remained together throughout the mating season did not associate with any adult male. Mothers with yearlings used larger areas in comparison to mothers with cubs, potentially indicating their increasing energetic needs. The use of spatiotemporal behavioral tactics to avoid infanticide by females with dependent offspring irrespective of age likely disrupts movement, mating, and social dynamics and on the long-term potentially increases the risk of infanticide to older offspring.
Authors
- Shane C. Frank (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8153-6656)
- Andreas Zedrosser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4417-3037)
- Fanie Pelletier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0113-5412)
- Martin Leclerc (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4429-697X)
- Alexander Kopatz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9139-1179)
- Rick W. Heeres (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2746-4940)
Institutions
- Université de Sherbrooke (CA)
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife (US)
- University of South-Eastern Norway (NO)
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NO)
- BOKU University (AT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Movement Ecology
- Published
- 2025-05-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-025-00561-6
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.72
Funders
- Svenska Jägareförbundet
- E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fund
- Canada Research Chairs
- Austrian Science Fund
- Naturvårdsverket
- Miljødirektoratet
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada