Conspecific brood parasitism (CBP) is an alternative reproductive tactic in egg-laying species, where a female lays her eggs the nest of conspecific. In population spotless starlings (Sturnus unicolor), we observed that some are ejected from during CBP events. It unclear whether this ejection parasitic strategy (a host egg ejected) or anti-parasitism (the ejected). To clarify this, genotyped on ground and found 100% them were parasitic. Egg discrimination might be based tactile visual cues,...

Abstract Stress during early development can induce substantial long‐term effects in organisms. In the case of birds, despite growth compensations, nestlings reared under harsh conditions typically show reduced survival chances adulthood. It has been proposed that environmental early‐life stressors could affect longevity via on telomere length, possibly mediated through oxidative stress. However, link between these processes is not clear. this study, we experimentally manipulated brood size...

Summary 1. The presence of siblings might have long‐lasting fitness consequences because they influence the early environment in which an animal develops. Several studies under laboratory conditions shown from male utero on morphology and life‐history traits. However, wild animals, such effects litter sex composition are unexplored. 2. We capitalized a long‐term study individually marked yellow‐bellied marmots ( Marmota flaviventris ) documented weaned anogenital distance several 3. First,...

Females have evolved different patterns of optimization the allocation energy to self-maintenance and offspring production care. In small mammals, females predominantly cover energetic costs reproduction by increasing their current income via increased foraging. Maternal endogenous reserves can also play a role in defining allocation, reducing concurrent feeding effort while reinforcing reproductive output. We studied tactics herbivore with high output, European rabbit. field enclosure, we...

Early-life parameters such as litter size and growth are frequently associated with an animal's behavioral performance or motor skills well its stress responsiveness. All these traits can be involved in the ontogeny of phenotypes, therefore, we wanted to know whether features early also show long-term correlations animals' responses challenges around maturity. We collected data on postnatal development individually marked European rabbits living a field enclosure conducted 2 standardized...

Abstract The recognition of predator odours is a well‐known mechanism in many prey species which may lead to various behavioural and physiological responses. This has been shown for mammal under laboratory conditions, but efforts validate the results field often have led inconclusive results. We investigated reactions stress response European rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) odour mammalian (red fox, Vulpes vulpes semi‐natural conditions. study was conducted on rabbit population living an...

Abstract In group‐living mammals, the major functions of vigilance are to detect presence predators and monitor movements conspecific competitors, i.e. potential opponents in agonistic encounters. The minimum distance such a competitor that an animal considers safe is usually lower than predator, whereas frequency encounters with conspecifics higher. Therefore, acquisition information about predator or could lead existence at least two different modes behaviour. aim present study was...

Summary Female mammals that develop in male‐biased litters show signs of masculinization because they are exposed to the testosterone produced by their male siblings utero. The early exposure can affect female morphology, physiology, behaviour and life‐history traits. Masculinization is commonly seen as collateral effect developing a litter. However, when resources limiting, might be adaptive androgenized females could monopolize resources. We investigated whether from litters, therefore...

The presence of male siblings in utero influences female morphology and life-history traits because testosterone transferred among foetuses may masculinize females. Similarly, litter sex composition might alter the display sexually dimorphic behaviour, such as play allogrooming, since they are modulated by androgens. We explored whether masculinization alters frequency sociopositive behaviour yellow-bellied marmots ( Marmota flaviventris ). found that masculinized juvenile females were more...

Abstract Whereas there are many studies of the time allocated to antipredator vigilance while animals forage, vast majority these remain correlative. This is potentially problematic because a variety factors other than variation in perceived risk might influence putative behaviors such as and foraging. We conducted an experimental study yellow‐bellied marmot ( Marmota flaviventris ) behavior marmots foraged at replicated set feeding stations established 1, 5, 10, 20 m from their main...

To better understand how different ambient temperatures during lactation affect survival of young, we studied patterns losses pups in golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) at the laboratory, mimicking temperature conditions natural habitats. Golden produce large litters more than 10 young but are also known to wean fewer end they give birth to. We wanted know whether affects litter size reductions and underlying causes pup loss were related maternal food (gross energy) intake reproductive...