Sociobiology of the myrmecophagous sloth bear in Nepal

Author:

Joshi Anup R,Smith James LD,Garshelis David L

Abstract

Ursids have adapted to environments ranging from the tropics to the arctic, and although the family is noted for its omnivory, some species have specialized food habits. The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) has specialized on insect prey, particularly termites and ants, and exhibits some characteristics and behaviors that are common among myrmecophagous mammals. We examined whether myrmecophagy has affected its sociobiology. During 1990-1994 we studied a high-density population of sloth bears in Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal. We found extensive seasonal overlap among home ranges of adults of the same sex (>50%) and between subadults and adults of both sexes (>70%). Moreover, overlap zones between adjacent ranges were used in proportion to their area. This, and observations of unrelated bears feeding or traveling in proximity to one another (not at concentrated food sources), suggested a high degree of mutual tolerance in this population. However, subadults and females with young may have temporally avoided other bears by limiting their activity to daylight hours. Predators (which were chiefly nocturnal) may also have affected the activity patterns of these (the most vulnerable) bears, and were probably responsible for the females' habit of giving birth in an underground den, fasting for several weeks so as not to leave cubs unattended in the den, and carrying the cubs on their back for 6-7 months after leaving the den. The young left their mother at 1.5 or 2.5 years old (this varied by family) and remained together and (or) later rejoined a sibling or another subadult, possibly to form a coalition against either predators or older bears. We documented few mortalities and no permanent juvenile dispersal in this study, but we also found few subadults in our study area, which indicates undetected mortality or dispersal. We cannot discount the possibility that some aspects of the sociobiology of sloth bears (e.g., cub-carrying, mutual tolerance) are related to myrmecophagy, but the social system and life-history traits of this species seem to fit well within the range observed among other ursids.

Publisher

Canadian Science Publishing

Subject

Animal Science and Zoology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Cited by 53 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3