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Contexts and possible functions of barking in roe deer

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 18:20 authored by David Reby, B. Cargnelutti, A. J. M. Hewison
We studied the barking behaviour of free-ranging roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, in response to disturbance provoked by a human observer and in response to the playback of recorded barks. Three alternative functions of this behaviour were hypothesized: barking is an alarm call, a pursuit-deterrent call or a territorial call. Our observational data showed that, in the presence of a source of disturbance, solitary individuals barked more frequently than deer in groups, suggesting that barking does not serve to warn conspecifics of potential danger, but rather to inform any potential predator that it has been identified. The frequencies of both barking and counterbarking (barking of a second deer in response to tile barks of an initiator) were inversely correlated with ambient luminosity, probably because the assessment of danger is more difficult when visibility is low. Males barked more frequently than females when disturbed. Moreover, when we played back a series of barks from within a buck's territory, this provoked counterbarking or aggressive behaviours rather than flight. Older bucks responded more frequently to playbacks than younger bucks. We suggest that while barking may initially have evolved as a signal to deter predator pursuit, it could play an important, secondary role in the territorial system of this species

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Animal Behaviour

ISSN

00033472

Publisher

Animal Behaviour

Issue

5

Volume

57

Page range

1121-1128

ISBN

0003-3472

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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