Abstract
The rutting behaviour of bucks in an enclosed population was investigated between 1988 and 1990. A substantial proportion of the matings were observed. After preliminary observations in the 1987 rut we categorised bucks into one of four rutting strategies based mainly on their degree of territoriality. We investigate the effects of age, dominance and mating strategy on mating success. Territories were aggregated in an area of oak woods and mating success was highly skewed. Bucks of between 5 and 7 years old achieved the majority (over 90%) of observed matings. Mating success was highly correlated with dominance but only weakly related to fighting success. The possession of a territory was crucial to achieving high reproductive success, with a 38-fold difference between the most and least successful strategies. Bucks pursuing the different strategies also differed in the time they commenced groaning, timing of matings, mating interference and the locations where they achieved their matings. Although high-ranking males devoted considerable effort to obtaining and defending a territory only 36% of each buck's matings were achieved on his territory and males tended to abandon these sites when the tendency of females to visit them decreased.
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Moore, N.P., Kelly, P.F., Cahill, J.P. et al. Mating strategies and mating success of fallow (Dama dama) bucks in a non-lekking population. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 36, 91–100 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00170713
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00170713