Pelt Biting as a Practical Indicator of Social and Environment Stress in Farmed Red Deer

Agonistic behavioural interactions play a decisive role in the competition for food, space, mating opportunities, and establishing social rank. We used pelt biting (number of bites on an animal’s body) as a proxy for assessing the intensity of agonistic animal interactions and how it responded to social, population, and heat stress factors. We modelled a 14-year time series of pelt biting records and observational data of agonistic interactions on a population of captive Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus). We found that (i) the higher the social rank of deer, the lower the number of pelt bites received; (ii) increasing heat stress conditions caused deer to suffer more pelt bites; (iii) males received more bites than females; (iv) the heavier the deer, the lower the number of bites on their bodies; (v) the bigger the group, the more bites exhibited on its members; (vi) deer 5–6 years old suffered greater rate of pelt biting than younger or older deer; and (vii) hinds that gave birth earlier in the parturition period suffered less pelt biting than those that gave birth around the peak of the parturition season (p < 0.01 for all effects). Pelt biting is useful to predict management situations in which deer welfare could be at stake.

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Direct versus indirect effects of social rank, maternal weight, body condition and age on milk production in Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus)

Journal of Dairy Research ◽

10.1017/s0022029909990392 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 77 (1) ◽

pp. 77-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Tomás Landete-Castillejos ◽

Francisco Ceacero ◽

Andrés J García ◽

Jose A. Estevez ◽

Laureano Gallego

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Milk Production ◽

Body Condition ◽

Cervus Elaphus ◽

Red Deer ◽

Social Rank ◽

Relative Importance ◽

Maternal Weight ◽

Cervus Elaphus Hispanicus ◽

Iberian Red Deer

Social rank in cervids and other mammals is not entirely predicted by body weight, but in most cases influences access to food directly. Milk provisioning depends on maternal weight and on daily food intake. Usually, body weight, body condition, age and social rank are inter-correlated making it very difficult to discern the relative importance of each variable to milk production. This study used path analysis to assess direct versus indirect effects of these variables on milk production of 62 Iberian red deer hinds (Cervus elaphus hispanicus). Once the known direct effects of body weight and body condition were set as fixed, hind age and social rank did not affect milk production directly. In contrast, they exerted an indirect influence through the correlation both with hind body weight and body condition. Body weight exerted an effect on milk production nearly twice as great as that of body condition. This study shows, for the first time in a wild mammal, the relative importance of social rank, body weight, body condition and age in affecting milk production ability.

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