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Seasonal variation in mother‐daughter groupings in Siberian ibex ( Capra ibex siberica )
Author(s) -
Horwich Robert H.,
Cogswell Stephen J. H.,
Burrows Jane,
Mitchell Nancy
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
zoo biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1098-2361
pISSN - 0733-3188
DOI - 10.1002/zoo.1430010407
Subject(s) - biology , sociality , ice calving , herd , daughter , aggression , sunrise , demography , ecology , zoology , lactation , geography , pregnancy , psychology , genetics , evolutionary biology , sociology , meteorology , psychiatry
The association of three pairs of mother‐yearling Siberian ibex was recorded by noting the distance between the mothers and daughters at 5‐min intervals for 1–2‐h observation periods for 1 yr at the Brookfield Zoo. Monthly averages of climatological data were obtained. All three pairs showed a seasonal fluctuation of association, with a higher level during spring and fall‐winter and a low degree of sociality in midsummer and late winter. Within the high social periods, short 1–3‐wk periods of low association occurred, which were correlated to actual rut and calving times in individual females. The mother‐daughter associations were most highly correlated to day length and sunrise of the climatological measures. These data seem to support the original hypothesis that these social periods, which began as developmental associations in the infant, aid in keeping the matrifocal herd structure together despite aggression at the times of rut and calving. It seems also that the social cycling, although linked to reproductive cycling, has its own physiological mechanism.