Anti-predator Strategy of Female Goitered Gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa Guld., 1780) with Hiding Faw

It is commonly believed that predation plays a key role in supporting the survival of offspring for the ungulates. The anti-predator strategies of ungulates can be divided into two groups, i.e. hiding and following species. In nature, about 80% of the ungulates are hiding species and exhibit a hiding strategy.  

Goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa Guld.), a medium-sized ungulate, is a typically hiding species originally spread extensively over Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey. In this study, researchers studied the maternal behavioral strategies of goitered gazelle.  

They found that shortly after birth, goitered gazelle mothers (1) stayed at the greatest distances from their hiding fawns; (2) spent the shortest amount of time together with their fawns, and then only for suckling (during the active phase) which was also the longest inter-suckling intervals (during the hiding phase); (3) kept twins separated in different hiding places and suckled them individually one after the other; (4) changed fawns’ hiding places after every active period, travelling with them during the whole suckling bout; (5) oriented their body and muzzle most often toward their hiding young during the fawn’s hiding phase; and (6) demonstrated the highest level of vigilance during their approaches to their hiding fawns.  

The anti-predator strategy of goitered gazelle females was similar to that observed in some North American (Antilocapra americana, Odocoileus hemionus and Odocoileus virginianus) and Eurasian (Dama dama and Capreolus capreolus) ungulate species that also demonstrate hiding behavior. Females of these species live on different continents with disparate environments and different predatory threats, but share antipredator strategies, which are likely the result of convergent evolution in Bovids and Cervids. 

The study was published in Behavioural Processes in October 2015.