Vigilance Of Tibetan Antelope And Tibetan Gazelle In Nagqu Prefecture,Tibet And Unique Puppet Behavior Of Tibetan Antelope

Behavioral ecology mainly studies the behavioral mechanism and the fitness and adaptive significance of animal behavior in ecology,studies how animals adapt to the ecological environment by behavior,and reveals the adaptation of different animals to different environments and environmental changes.Foraging,resting,vigilance behavior,reproductive behavior,grooming,fighting and movement are common behaviors of animals.Given this context,we studied the influence factors of vigilance and vigilance randomness in Tibetan antelope(Pantholops h.odgsonii)and Tibetan gazelle(Procapra picticaudata),and the unique puppet resting behavior of Tibetan antelope was recorded for the first time.Vigilance is an important anti-predation method for animals.Vigilance is affected by age,sex,reproductive status,spatial location,group size,predation risk and human activity.Given this context,we studied vigilance in populations of two wild cloven-hoofed animals,Tibetan antelope and Tibetan gazelle,at Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.The results showed that vigilance of Tibetan antelope and Tibetan gazelle was affected by body size(interspecific;intraspecific:sex-age)and partially by group size.The small-sized Tibetan gazelle has more vigilance than the large-sized Tibetan antelope;The female Tibetan antelope is more vigilant than the male because of sexual dimorphism(difference in body size),but the result of Tibetan gazelle is opposite;vigilance is not significantly affected by group size in Tibetan gazelle,though there is a tendency to decrease(not significant)with the increase of group size.The result of the female Tibetan antelope is a U-shaped pattern,however,vigilance of the male Tibetan antelope was almost significantly influenced by group size.Future study can attempt to analyze the effect of intraspecific competition on vigilance due to low vegetation density in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.Different species have different random strategies invigilance.In this study,the randomness of vigilance of Tibetan antelope and Tibetan antelope was studied.The results showed that the lengths of inter-scan interval of both Tibetan antelope and Tibetan gazelle are subject to a negative exponential distribution;the inter-scan interval of the two species are unrelated to their previous scan;and the run test showed that most sequences of inter-scan intervals are random and unpredictable.In conclusion,the vigilance patterns of Tibetan antelope and Tibetan gazelle are consistent with the instantaneous randomness and sequential randomness hypothesis of Pulliam's model.Rest contributes a large part of animals' daily life,and animals usually rest in two ways,standing or in recumbence.Small or medium sized ungulates bed to rest in most cases,and standing rest is very rare and hardly seen.Here we described a standing rest behavior of Tibetan antelopes(Pantholops hodgsonii)living on the Tibet Plateau which has not been reported before.We named the standing rest behavior Puppet behavior,since the antelope stand still for a certain time.Of the 304 individuals observed,48.3%(98/203)of adult and sub-adult males expressed the Puppet behavior,whereas only 6.3%(6/96)of females did,indicating an obvious sexual difference.Puppet behavior occurred more frequently at noon and in the afternoon on sunny and cloudy days,meaning that daytime and weather were both influential factors.Puppet behavior was usually accompanied with rumination and sometimes ended with leg-shaking.Our results suggest that Puppet behavior may be an adaptive form of rest,which may serve a thermoregulatory and anti-predation function,and may be simpler and safer than recumbent rest.The study of behavioral ecology will enable people to understand more deeply of the nature of animal behavior,that is,the relationship between the origin and development of animal behavior and existing ecological conditions.The study of vigilance of Tibetan antelope and Tibetan antelope as well as the unique puppet resting behavior of Tibetan antelope enables us to have a better understanding of these creatures living in the extremely harsh environment of the plateau,and provides scientific basis for the protection of the individuals and the recovery of the population.