Some Preliminary Evidence of the Social Facilitation of Mounting Behavior in a Juvenile Bull Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus)
This study recorded sexual behavior within a captive herd of 8 Asian elephants for approximately 230 hr on 50 days over a period of 10 months. The study observed a single adult and a single juvenile bull mounting cows more than 160 times. When the juvenile bull was between 4 years, 2 months and 4 […]
A possible role of habituation in the sexual behaviour of male mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis Baird & Girard)
Buller steer syndrome review
The buller steer syndrome is found among confined and pasture-kept cattle. The buller behavior occurs when a steer is repeatedly mounted (“buller”) and ridden by its pen mates (“rider”) until it is injured or killed. The usual practice is to remove the animal being ridden. The ridden animals are typically grouped together in a “buller” […]
Acute and chronic stress-like levels of cortisol inhibit the oestradiol stimulus to induce sexual receptivity but have no effect on sexual attractivity or proceptivity in female sheep
Stress-like levels of cortisol inhibit sexual receptivity in ewes but the mechanism of this action is not understood. One possibility is that cortisol interferes with the actions of oestradiol to induce sexual receptivity. We tested this hypothesis in 2 experiments with ovariectomised ewes that were artificially induced into oestrus by 12 days of i.m. injections of […]
Female meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) demonstrate same-sex partner preferences
Female meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) are territorial during warm months but demonstrate social tolerance under low temperatures. In spring, females nest together and some pairs participate in communal nursing and rearing of young. Because communal nursing involves significant cooperation, selective pair-bonds may develop between 2 nestmates. Using a choice apparatus, the authors determined that (a) […]
Costs to females and benefits to males from forced copulations in fruit flies
Forced copulation, which is perhaps the most extreme form of sexual conflict, is ubiquitous among many species including humans. To better understand the evolution and maintenance of forced copulations, it is imperative to assess their costs and benefits. We followed up on recent studies indicating frequent forced copulations in two wild populations of fruit flies, […]
Mounting behaviour in finishing pigs: Stable individual differences are not due to dominance or stage of sexual development
Every year around 100 million male piglets are castrated in the EU, usually without anaesthesia or post-operative analgesia. This surgical intervention is painful and stressful. Several main players within the pig industry have voluntarily agreed to end the practice of surgical pig castration in the EU by 2018. One alternative to castration is entire male […]