MATERNAL-INFANT BEHAVIOR IN MUSKOXEN

The mother-infant relationships of muskoxen were studied in both wild and captive groups. Births occur over a period of about 2 months and randomly at any time of day. The cow does not isolate herself from the group when giving birth. Calves in the free-ranging population on Nunivak Island, Alaska, were born into groups with size XBAR = 9 including XBAR = 3 adult males and XBAR = 4.3 adult females. Vocal communication is frequent and important in mother-infant communication. It is most frequently used to being mother and infant together after periods of spatial separation. In the dynamics of nursing behaviour and spacing the muskox is clearly of the follower type. Nevertheless, the mother-infant pair shares looser spatial relationships than in other follower species. It is suggested that many characteristics of maternal-infant behaviour relate directly to the important role and effectiveness of group defense against predation in this species.