Studies On Behavior Of Sika Deer(Cervus Nippon) And Their Relationships With Microsatellite Marker

Sika deer (Cervus nippon) is a highly endangered species, which presently distributes in the narrow regions of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Sichuan and Jiangxi provinces. The systematic investigation was conducted on the sika deer in the Yangzhou zoo and Pingshantang farm with scan sampling and focal animal sampling. The study compared the behaviour patterns among male, female and young deer in two places. And in order to find effective molecular markers for the marker-assisted selection on early bebavior performance of sika deer, the genetic diversity was detected with 14 microsatellite loci and the correlation between the microsatellite locus and behaviour traits were analyzed in two populations, The major results are as follows:1. The eating behaviour of farm male sika deer was different significantly from that of the zoo sika deer during 7:30-8:30, 12:30-14:30 and 15:30-16:30(P=0.002). And the males in farm had higher relaxing frequency than males in zoo at 8:30-9:30hr(P=0.002), but had lower one during 13:30-15:30. (P=0.028, 0.045). The study of the observing behaviour showed that the males in farm were more alert than males in zoo, so their observing frequency were higher than that of males in zoo at 10:30-11:30hr and 12:30-16:30hr ((P=0.009, P=0.002, P=0.044, P=0.046, P=0.000).2. Same as males, the females in two places also had different eating behaviour. At first, the animals in farm had higher eating frequency at 7:30-9:30. Then the animals in zoo increased their eating frequency and the farm doe decreased their frequency from 12:30 to 15:30 (P=0.000, 0.008, 0.001). The farm females always ruminated more than females in zoo during 9 observing periods, but they observed less than females in zoo at 7:30-8:30hr ( P=0.000 ).3. The young deer had their own behaviour rhythm. At most time, the farm fawn had higher eating frequency than fawn in zoo (P=0.000, 0.005, 0.006). They also had higher ruminating frequency than young deer in zoo in 9 periods, and both of them had their ruminating peak mainly in the morning. But the relaxing frequency of the young in the farm was always less than that of deer in zoo.4. The R cluster results showed that the behaviour character of zoo sika deer can be summed with relaxing and moving, and the sika deer in the farm can be summed with relaxing and grooming.5. The average of expected H (Heterozygosity) and PIC (Polymorphism Information Content) in the zoo of sika deer were 0.441 and 0.332 respectively, and the values of observed H was 0.354. The gene differentiation value was 0.231. For the sika deer in the farm, the average of expected H and PIC were 0.372 and 0.303 respectively, and observed H was 0.300. The gene differentiation was 0.149.6. The loci of TGLA53, BM4107 had significant or highly significant effect on the grooming behaviour, as well as 2AL2 locus on the observing behaviour, 2AL13 on the relaxing behaviour, BM6506 locus on the behaviour of ruminating and others, BL42 on the eating and relaxing and Mber14 on the behaviour of relaxing.