Offspring sex, current and previous reproduction affect feeding behaviour in wild eastern grey kangaroos
In mammals, lactation is the most energetically demanding component of female reproduction. Theory predicts an increase in food intake by lactating females, but very few studies have used contraceptives to experimentally test the influence of reproduction on foraging behaviour of wild mammals. From 2009 to 2011, we observed 182 individually marked female eastern grey kangaroos, […]
Social preference influences female community structure in a population of wild eastern grey kangaroos
Communities, clusters of individuals who interact socially primarily with each other, are fundamental elements of social structure in many species. Community membership can be influenced by spatial factors and by social preferences resulting from genetic or phenotypic assortment or shared behavioural strategies. Very little is known about community social structure in herbivorous mammals with higher […]
Associations are more strongly correlated with space use than kinship in female eastern grey kangaroos
Understanding the relationship between kinship and female social preferences in mammalian societies is frequently complicated by philopatric behaviour and variation in pairwise home range overlap. While the influence of space use on association patterns is increasingly being considered in studies using network analysis, methods are needed for generating null models that control for pairwise home […]
Few sex effects in the ontogeny of mother-offspring relationships in eastern grey kangaroos
Social relationships established early in life can have effects on social structure and influence individual fitness. Eastern grey kangaroos, Macropus giganteus, nurse their young for at least 18 months, allowing for a strong bond to develop between mothers and young. Because most female kangaroos are philopatric, the mother-offspring relationship established during lactation could persist into […]
An assessment of animal welfare for the culling of peri-urban kangaroos
Context Shooting is used to reduce the abundance of kangaroo (Macropus sp.) populations in many peri-urban areas in Australia, but there is uncertainty surrounding the animal welfare outcomes of this practice. Aim We assessed the animal welfare outcomes of night shooting for peri-urban eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus). We quantified the duration of stress for: […]