Social scents in hand-reared pronghorn (Antilocapra americana)

Abstract

Three male and one female pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) were taken in the wild when a few hours to three days old and were hand-raised. The development of their behaviour was studied with particular emphasis on their olfactory communication. Fifty hours of field observations confirmed most of the findings in the captive animals.

Four scents are important in the social life of the pronghorn: They originate with the paired subauricular and ischiadic glands, the single dorsal gland and the odour of urine. The subauricular and dorsal scents are produced by males only. Urine is an important component of the sniffing - pawing -urinating - defecation sequence of the males. The ontogeny of this sequence is described. An experiment with an artificial marking post demonstrated that the subauricular scent of a male one rank lower released the strongest response in other bucks. Preliminary gas chromatographic analysis of the subauricular scent has been carried out.