Centered at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, we are a small group of students, managers and scientists engaged in a collaborative learning project to develop innovative large herd scenarios for exotic hoofstock management.
Questions, questions, questions. A scientific inquiry is all about questions. Questions we seek to answer. Questions we still have. Questions that are raised from the questions we answered while questioning…. Confused yet? I sure was. But this project can be broken down into a few basic ideas that Renee was looking into. The main question we were to answer was quite simple. Was the new herd management plan an effective strategy? In order to fully answer it, we explored three main sub-questions. Was Lucifer’s vasectomy causing him to work harder or placing undue stress on him when he’s breeding but not producing offspring? Will Douglas be successful in breeding during that two month period, and does this dramatic change place undue stress on the females of the herd? And the final question was about Toby. Toby is another full grown male that was castrated when he was little, which caused his horns to grow smaller and in a curvy pattern atypical of waterbuck males. Toby was allowed to stay with the herd since he couldn’t breed and Lucifer, the much stronger and bigger male, didn’t mind his presence as long as he was submissive. But with a new male in the herd, how would Toby react? Would he submit, or would there be clashes between the two for dominance?
In order to understand the questions that we looked into, however, you must first understand a few basic relationships in the waterbuck herd. Waterbuck are territorial animals, with a dominant male defending a herd of females and breeding with them until another male comes by and attempts to take over his herd. At Fossil Rim, the herd of waterbuck is a constantly growing and changing group of individuals. At any given time, there are females, calves, budding calves (meaning their horns have begun to grow but they are still very physically immature), juvenile males, and fully grown adult males in the herd. Males are often removed from the herd after they begin to mature and either sent to another facility or kept in a separate holding pen in order to reduce fighting among males and inbreeding with related females. Although this method has worked well over the years, recently there had to be changes made. The dominant male of the herd, Lucifer, had been breeding with the females for the past ten years and was beginning to get old. Some of the female calves that he had fathered were also left in the herd, and he was beginning to inbreed with some of his daughters. And so Lucifer was vasectomized. The managers at Fossil Rim still wanted their waterbuck to breed, however, so they brought in another male, Douglas, that was given to them by another AZA facility. In addition to this problem, the waterbuck in the reserve had failed to establish a permanent breeding season. As a result, calves were born at random times all throughout the year. Calves born at the wrong time of the year, such as late summer through winter, often died because they were unable to survive the cold temperatures of winter. If they replaced Lucifer with Douglas, they would solve the inbreeding but calves would still die. What to do? In the end, the managers came up with a neat trial strategy. They would keep Lucifer in with the herd for ten months out of the year to maintain the balance and comfort of the herd. Then in May and June, Lucifer would be taken out and replaced with Douglas so that the waterbuck could breed. The eight month gestation period would put the babies’ births in the spring time, giving them the best opportunity for survival.
Bernard mentioned one of the big questions of this overall study: "Was Lucifer’s vasectomy causing him to work harder or placing undue stress on him when he’s breeding but not producing offspring?"
To answer this question, we recruited the other members of a graduate class that Renee took in the spring semester. She led the team that wrote a report comparing the behavior of Lucifer in January 2008 (before the experiment began) with his behavior one year later. More about her report later. Here is what one of Renee's team members wrote while in the field, thinking about how to focus the research during January 2009.
TIMM said:
"Our questions to focus on this week involve the interactions of the vasectomized male waterbuck, Lucifer. Specifically, we want to understand the nature of his interactions with the females, calves, and other male (a castrated buck) of the group. As he is not the actively breeding male, what role might he play in the group, as opposed to the intact male which is introduced to the group for only two months of the year. We would also like to investigate whether his role amoung the group of roughly 17 females places undue stress upon him. Indicators of stress may include physiological as well as behavioral signs. One particular area of interest would be the amount of time he spends active and with the females compared to the amount of time he spends spends resting. Of particular interest is the pattern typical of the male’s encounter with members of the various groups and whether tendencies for repeated behavior emerge.
"The goal of collecting this data is to assist in management of ungulate populations in captivity, such that they are self-sustaining. What might be a more optimized ratio in males to females, as an example? What is the role of the male in such a herd?
Defining the hypotheses has been a daunting task because the objectives/questions and hypotheses are actually two separate things that have to be defined. You guys have been discussing the question and have defined it quite clearly. But my hypothesis is what I believe the answer to my question is which is quite simple. I believe that there were no effects on the social well-being of the vasectomized male used in this "bull-switching" treatment. Whether or not this was true can be seen in the results section, and what this actually means you can look up in the discussion.
Justin's question was "who is the leader of the sable herd"?
He had three hunches, it could be:
1. the older male, followed by the younger male 2. the herd matriarch, the oldest darkest female 3. the males follow wherever the females go, when they look for resources like food, water, shade or wind shelter
Questions, questions, questions. A scientific inquiry is all about questions. Questions we seek to answer. Questions we still have. Questions that are raised from the questions we answered while questioning…. Confused yet? I sure was. But this project can be broken down into a few basic ideas that Renee was looking into.
ReplyDeleteThe main question we were to answer was quite simple. Was the new herd management plan an effective strategy? In order to fully answer it, we explored three main sub-questions. Was Lucifer’s vasectomy causing him to work harder or placing undue stress on him when he’s breeding but not producing offspring? Will Douglas be successful in breeding during that two month period, and does this dramatic change place undue stress on the females of the herd? And the final question was about Toby. Toby is another full grown male that was castrated when he was little, which caused his horns to grow smaller and in a curvy pattern atypical of waterbuck males. Toby was allowed to stay with the herd since he couldn’t breed and Lucifer, the much stronger and bigger male, didn’t mind his presence as long as he was submissive. But with a new male in the herd, how would Toby react? Would he submit, or would there be clashes between the two for dominance?
In order to understand the questions that we looked into, however, you must first understand a few basic relationships in the waterbuck herd. Waterbuck are territorial animals, with a dominant male defending a herd of females and breeding with them until another male comes by and attempts to take over his herd. At Fossil Rim, the herd of waterbuck is a constantly growing and changing group of individuals. At any given time, there are females, calves, budding calves (meaning their horns have begun to grow but they are still very physically immature), juvenile males, and fully grown adult males in the herd. Males are often removed from the herd after they begin to mature and either sent to another facility or kept in a separate holding pen in order to reduce fighting among males and inbreeding with related females.
Although this method has worked well over the years, recently there had to be changes made. The dominant male of the herd, Lucifer, had been breeding with the females for the past ten years and was beginning to get old. Some of the female calves that he had fathered were also left in the herd, and he was beginning to inbreed with some of his daughters. And so Lucifer was vasectomized. The managers at Fossil Rim still wanted their waterbuck to breed, however, so they brought in another male, Douglas, that was given to them by another AZA facility. In addition to this problem, the waterbuck in the reserve had failed to establish a permanent breeding season. As a result, calves were born at random times all throughout the year. Calves born at the wrong time of the year, such as late summer through winter, often died because they were unable to survive the cold temperatures of winter. If they replaced Lucifer with Douglas, they would solve the inbreeding but calves would still die. What to do?
In the end, the managers came up with a neat trial strategy. They would keep Lucifer in with the herd for ten months out of the year to maintain the balance and comfort of the herd. Then in May and June, Lucifer would be taken out and replaced with Douglas so that the waterbuck could breed. The eight month gestation period would put the babies’ births in the spring time, giving them the best opportunity for survival.
Bernard mentioned one of the big questions of this overall study: "Was Lucifer’s vasectomy causing him to work harder or placing undue stress on him when he’s breeding but not producing offspring?"
ReplyDeleteTo answer this question, we recruited the other members of a graduate class that Renee took in the spring semester. She led the team that wrote a report comparing the behavior of Lucifer in January 2008 (before the experiment began) with his behavior one year later. More about her report later. Here is what one of Renee's team members wrote while in the field, thinking about how to focus the research during January 2009.
TIMM said:
"Our questions to focus on this week involve the interactions of the vasectomized male waterbuck, Lucifer. Specifically, we want to understand the nature of his interactions with the females, calves, and other male (a castrated buck) of the group. As he is not the actively breeding male, what role might he play in the group, as opposed to the intact male which is introduced to the group for only two months of the year. We would also like to investigate whether his role amoung the group of roughly 17 females places undue stress upon him. Indicators of stress may include physiological as well as behavioral signs. One particular area of interest would be the amount of time he spends active and with the females compared to the amount of time he spends spends resting. Of particular interest is the pattern typical of the male’s encounter with members of the various groups and whether tendencies for repeated behavior emerge.
"The goal of collecting this data is to assist in management of ungulate populations in captivity, such that they are self-sustaining. What might be a more optimized ratio in males to females, as an example? What is the role of the male in such a herd?
So after you've read our views on your questions, what would you say the hypothesis of this project is, Renee?
ReplyDeleteDefining the hypotheses has been a daunting task because the objectives/questions and hypotheses are actually two separate things that have to be defined. You guys have been discussing the question and have defined it quite clearly. But my hypothesis is what I believe the answer to my question is which is quite simple. I believe that there were no effects on the social well-being of the vasectomized male used in this "bull-switching" treatment. Whether or not this was true can be seen in the results section, and what this actually means you can look up in the discussion.
ReplyDeleteJustin's question was "who is the leader of the sable herd"?
ReplyDeleteHe had three hunches, it could be:
1. the older male, followed by the younger male
2. the herd matriarch, the oldest darkest female
3. the males follow wherever the females go, when they look for resources like food, water, shade or wind shelter
Peta asked two questions:
ReplyDeletea) what was the behavioral profile for the male?
b) how many females were "open", meaning not pregnant?
For our observations of bull switching in the Sable and addax herds, our questions are:
ReplyDelete1) what is the behavioral profile of males when they are returned to the herd after a separation of 10 months?
2) how do they respond to famales, young males, calves, other species?