Feeding behaviour affects nursing behaviour in captive plains zebra (Equus burchellii)

PLUHÁČEK, Jan, BARTOŠ, Luděk, BARTOŠOVÁ, Jitka a KOTRBA, Radim. Feeding behaviour affects nursing behaviour in captive plains zebra (Equus burchellii). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2010, 128, 97-102. ISSN 0168-1591.
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Abstrakt

Equids spend more than half of the day feeding. Lactation is a very demanding form of maternal investment. Therefore, conflict between suckling behaviour of the foal and feeding behaviour of the lactating mother should occur. We observed 20 foals of captive plains zebra, Equus burchellii, at the Dvůr Králové Zoo. First, we examined whether feeding by the mother while nursing affected suckling behaviour. We found that when the mother was feeding, the proportion of suckling bouts she terminated decreased with increasing age of the foal, whereas it did not change when she was not feeding. Second, we examined what affected interruptions of feeding behaviour of the mother during the suckling bout. The proportion of interruptions of feeding by the mother during nursing was affected by her age, the age and the sex of the foal. The results of our study show that feeding while suckling could reduce parent-offspring conflict and improve welfare of captive foals and mares.

ProjektVnitrodruhové a mezidruhové aspekty kojení koňovitých, Udržitelný rozvoj chovu hospodářských zvířat v evropském modelu multifunkčního zemědělství
OdděleníEtologie