SHORT COMMUNICATION
Field observation of two males following a female in the Iberian lynx
(Lynx pardinus) during the mating season
Jose V. Lopez-Baoa,*, Alejandro Rodrıgueza, Enrique Alesb
a
Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Donana, CSIC, Avda. Marı´a Luisa s/n, 41013 Seville, Spain
B-80, 21760 Matalascanas, Spain
b
With the exception of lion (Panthera leo, L., 1758),
cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus, Schreber, 1775), and domestic cat (Felis catus, L., 1758), which exhibit social
behaviour (Schaller 1972; Macdonald et al. 1987; Caro
1994) felids are considered solitary species, where
contacts between adults take place mainly during the
mating season (Kleiman and Eisenberg 1973; Gittleman
1989; Caro 1994). The typical mating system of felids is
polygyny (Komers and Brotherton 1997) although in
some species it has been described as facultative
monogamy (Poole 1995; Komers and Brotherton
1997). Other deviations from the general pattern have
been reported with lower frequency (Clutton-Brock
1989; Weisbein and Mendelssohn 1990; Caro 1994;
Zheltukhin 2003).
The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus, Temminck, 1827)
has been described as a solitary felid, where home ranges
of adults of different sex overlap, but those of adults of
the same sex are rather exclusive (Ferreras et al. 1997).
Contacts between adult Iberian lynx of the same sex
have been rarely recorded. In fact, Ferreras et al. (1997)
found such occasions only in 1.14% from among 2186
pairs of simultaneous locations of two adult lynx of
the same sex. The Iberian lynx mating system has
been defined as being close to monogamy, although
some tendency to polygyny was occasionally detected
(Ferreras et al. 1997).
In this paper, we report on a field observation of two
Iberian lynx adult males following together an adult
*Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jvlb@ebd.csic.es (J.V. Lopez-Bao).
female during the mating season. Females breed
between 3 and 9 years, giving birth in March–April
(Palomares et al. 2005), after a gestation of about 8
weeks. Female F120 (7 years) was observed together
with male M136 (8 years, body mass ¼ 15.0 kg) and
male M139 (3 years, body mass ¼ 13.5 kg). Genetic
analyses indicate that adult males were not first- or
second-degree relatives (unpublished data). The two
males were resident in this area since December 2005.
The exclusive-overlap index (Dunn and Gipson 1977)
indicated that 75% of male home ranges were used
exclusively by one individual (Fig. 1). F120 had lived in
the study area for at least 5 years but, 5 days before
the observation reported here, she was released into
her home range after being one month in captivity
recovering from several injuries.
The observation was recorded on 16 February 2006 at
1:30 p.m. in Coto del Rey, Donana National Park (SW
Iberian peninsula, 371100 N, 61230 W), an area inhabited
by a lynx subpopulation which is normally composed of
3 lynx breeding territories (Palomares et al. 2001). At the
time of the observation, all lynx in the area were radiotracked, and the adult cohort was made of three males
and three females. Once found by their radio-signals, all
three lynx were followed visually from a distance of
500 m.
At first observation all lynx were 10 m from each
other. The two males stood up on a path being in
attitude of non-direct confrontation, with their beards
open and their back bended with end hairs. Both males
emitted grunts of low intensity and scent-marked
repeatedly with urine on the vegetation. This behaviour
Coto del Rey area
N
16-02-2006, 1:53 pm
16-02-2006, 1:30 pm
National Park
16-02-2006, 2:27 pm
Females
males
1000
0
1000 m
Fig. 1. Path made by F120 (continuous segmented line) and males M136 ans M139 (broken segmented line). The 50% kernel home
ranges, built with independent radio-tracking fixes between December 2005 and May 2006, are shown for F120 and M139 (western
couple of highly overlapping ranges), and for M136 and another adult female (southern couple of highly overlapping ranges). Note
that the male path was outside the overlap area of male ranges.
was displayed during 10 min in the presence of the
female, which lay down on the ground. Afterwards, the
female began to walk and both males followed her
without interrupting their gestual confrontation, and
always maintaining the same order, the older male
followed by the younger male. This consistent order
might suggest a possible dominance of the first male
towards the second. M136 often stopped and showed
the described display to M139, which also stopped and
sat down observing the other male. At this time, the
female, moved with her beards gathered and her tail
hidden between her legs. The three lynx, always in the
same order and behaviour moved together for 2 km
using firebreaks and pine plantations without bushes
that allowed us to keep lynx continuously on sight. At
this point, the female went away from the males, which
continued walking together exhibiting the same display
for about 1 km more (Fig. 1).
The next day, 17 February 2006, the female and the
older male were found together by radio-tracking. The
younger male was then 800 m away from them. On
another occasion, on 22 February 2006 the female and
the younger male were observed copulating, while the
older male was 1500 m away from them.
Weisbein and Mendelssohn (1990) described how a
female caracal (Caracal caracal, Schreber, 1776) copulated with several males in an order that seemed
determinated by the age and the physical condition of
males. In our case, the oldest and heavier male was
apparently the first detected with the female, and the
youngest the second. Only a few records of solitary
felids have been reported in which males form noncooperative associations to follow a single female during
the mating season (Weisbein and Mendelssohn 1990;
Caro 1994, Zheltukhin 2003). Zheltukhin (2003), for
example, described how one female Eurasian lynx (Lynx
lynx, L., 1758) was followed by five males during the
oestrus. A captive female Eurasian lynx accepted
copulation with several males (Naidenko and Erofeeva
2004).
The distribution of females often determines the
distribution and social behaviour of males (Emlen and
Oring 1977; Wrangham 1980; Gittleman 1989; Caro
1994). In felids, the spatial distribution and density of
females determine the mating system (Komers and
Brotherton 1997), where polygyny is the rule and
facultative monogamy may happen at high population
densities (Wassmer et al. 1988, Poole 1995, Ferreras et
al. 1997; Say et al. 1999). The apparent dispute of the
two Iberian lynx males might have been elicited by a
new resource, an adult female suddenly available during
the mating season at the boundary between male
territories (Fig. 1). The strategy observed here and in
the cases of Caracals and Eurasian lynx described before
J
(solitary felids, relatively high density of males), suggests
that mating systems in felids could present exceptions to
monogamy and polygyny. Cases of polyandry might
probably occur in association with high densities of
males and/or low densities of females.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of
Education through the Grant CGL2004-00346/BOS,
and by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment under
the National Parks research programme (Grant 17/
2005). J.V. Lopez-Bao was supported by the Ministry of
Education and A. Rodrıguez by Consejerıa de Innovacion,
Junta de Andalucıa.
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