Abstract
More in-depth knowledge is required regarding the diet composition and food preferences of ungulates to improve our understanding of their different feeding strategies and mechanisms for adaptation. In particular, differences in energetic demands and feeding behaviors between the sexes, in sexually dimorphic species, may lead to significant dietary differences, which may partly explain sexual segregation patterns. Diet differences between sexes in Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica) are still poorly understood. We investigated the diet of Siberian ibex in the Tianshan Mountains (China), using fecal micro-histological analyses, to understand to what extent sex and season can explain differences in diet composition. In our study area, males and females had different diet compositions during the warm season: males preferred the most abundant plant species, with the greatest biomass, while females selected plants with higher nutritional content. Considering these results, the differences in the feeding strategies of the two sexes may indeed play a crucial role in promoting sexual segregation and preference for different habitats. During the cold season, the diet overlap between males and females was higher, coinciding with a random association between the sexes, during which males and females seem to live in both mixed and unisex groups and share the same habitats. Therefore, we concluded that sexual segregation is a result not only of differences in diet composition but also of differences in the social behaviors and habitat preferences between the sexes, leading to deferential activity budgets and habitat selection that in association with feeding strategies may explain sexual segregation in Siberian ibex.
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Acknowledgments
We are very grateful to Dr. Peter Neuhaus and Ms. Patricia Johnston for their useful suggestions and remarks and help in English language editing. We are grateful to Prof. Li Zhongqin, Dr. Wang Wenbin, Mr. Chen Hongmo, Mr. Ma Yinghui, and staff from the Tianshan Glaciological Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for providing logistical support during the fieldwork.
Funding
This work was supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP), Grant No. 2019QZKK0501, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31661143019). KER received the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (funding reference number 316189-2012-RGPIN); Cette recherche a été financée par le Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et engénie du Canada (CRSNG) (reference number 316189-2012-RGPIN), and POPH/FSE from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the fellowships of A.A.S. (SFRH/BD/75018/2010) and J.A. (SFRH/BPD/123087/2016).
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Lei Han, Muyang Wang, and Weikang Yang conceived and performed the experiments. Lei Han, David Blank, Muyang Wang, Joana Alves, and Kathreen Ruckstuhl wrote the manuscript. António Alves da Silva, Joana Alves, and Lei Han conducted the data analysis. David Blank and Kathreen Ruckstuhl also edited the spelling and grammar of this contribution. All authors contributed to the manuscript text and have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Han, L., Blank, D., Wang, M. et al. Diet differences between males and females in sexually dimorphic ungulates: a case study on Siberian ibex. Eur J Wildl Res 66, 55 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-020-01387-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-020-01387-w