Sexual segregation in fallow deer: are mixed-sex groups especially unstable because of asynchrony between the sexes?
In gregarious ruminants, females and males tend to live in separate groups outside the rutting season. According to the 'activity budget' hypothesis, this is due to an activity asynchrony between the two sexes reducing the lifetime of mixed-sex groups. We tested this hypothesis in a fallow deer population. Activity asynchrony was more frequent in mixed-sex than in single-sex groups. In addition, mixed-sex groups had a higher probability of splitting-up than all-female groups, and they mainly split up into single-sex groups. However, activity asynchrony did not appear as a major cause of splitting-up.
Villerette
Nicolas
N
Centre de recherche et de formation en éco-éthologie, 2C2A, 08240 Boult-aux-Bois, France.
Helder
Rémi
R
Angibault
Jean-Marc
JM
Cargnelutti
Bruno
B
Gerard
Jean-François
JF
D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D003670:Deer / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D008297:Male; D006109:Poaceae; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012919:Social Behavior