Shannon Szukalewicz Biology Lab paper

The female zebra will undergo a great deal of stress during the early developmental stages of her offsprings life. Lactation is a more demanding physical maternal activity than gestation, estrus behavior, or ovulation. It is believed that the high demands of nursing allow for exclusive behaviors within the female plains zebra relationships with her offspring. Contributing factors such as sex of the offspring, resource conflict and the overall health of the mare is taken into consideration when evaluating these familial relationships. Scientists at the department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science at the Ostrava Zoo in the Czech Republic conducted research to determine if a healthy well nourished mare would favor a male foal over a female foal during nursing. The scientists predicted that the zebra mares would allow the male foals to suckle longer and more frequently than female foals. This prediction was backed by the assumption that male foals are more valuable to the herd than female foals. Mothers of polygynous mammals in good condition would be more likely to invest more in sons than daughters, because sons have more variable reproductive success and a high- quality son would leave more offspring than a high-quality daughter. (Trivers and Willard, 1973: White et al., 2007). Observations were conducted on 20 foals (7 female and 13 male) in addition to 14 individual mares (from 4 to 19 years of age). The plains zebras were then further divided into 3 separate herds. At this time there were 1, 3, and 3 female foals in each herd and the remainder were male foals. Observation was a key tool in this research and each group was observed systematically at different points during the weekend. Each group was viewed on either

Shannon Szukalewicz Biology Lab paper

Saturday or Sunday. These observations continued over a span of two non-consecutive years. (January 1999 to January 2000, September 2001 to March 2002). During this observational period the scientists recorded 5,857 suckling solicitations of the foals, 3,252 (55.5%) of which resulted in successful sucking bouts, and 2,605 of which resulted in failed suckling attempts. The results illustrated that within female foals the probability of successful suckling tended to increase with the increasing age of the foal. In addition, the probability of successful suckling in male foals subsided with the increasing age of the foal. * Female foals tendency of suckling increased with age ( slope= 0.0016: Z = 1.78; P= 0.074). *Male foals tendency of suckling decreased with age (slope = -0.0018; Z= -2.51; P = 0.012). The results displayed and unanticipated increasing level of conflict within the captive plains zebra relationships with its young during suckling periods. This unassumed area of conflict was viewed during this lengthy observational period and showed a greater rate of rejection from the mare than predicted. The rate of rejection and the stress on the animal during this period was thought to even be more than that of a domestic horse. The results signified that lactation remains highly demanding and as the foal ages and is able to consume independently the benefit of suckling in relation to the foal decreases and the expenditure to the mother increases. The information obtained did not confirm the scientist theory that a male offspring would take precedence over a female offspring. Instead, the results illustrated that lactation remains complex, and comes at a high cost to the adult female zebra. Through the research it appears that the mare limits and controls the rate in which her foals suckles in relation to her own energy output and how the energy lost during

Shannon Szukalewicz Biology Lab paper

suckling will benefit both herself and the foal.