Deer hinds (Cervus elaphus) have a hierarchical organisation
system: the oldest and largest hold the most dominant positions.
Therefore, a nutrient rich diet benefits the more dominant hinds, who
have preferential access to the best food sources. This allows them to
grow even bigger, improving their milk production and body condition.
Published in the PLoS One journal and headed by the
University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), the study demonstrates how even
when food is in abundance, the dominant hinds select the best foods.
Carried out in 2009 on the Albacete experimental deer farm, the
second most important in the world (after the one in New Zealand), the
experiment lasted seven days. It involved observing the behaviour of 44
deer hinds when accessing food during the first hour, their selection of
food components and their nutritional composition.
The results reveal that the “dominant hinds used more time to feed
during the first hour after the food was put out, they selected cereals
and rejected food pellets (nutritiously low vegetable by-products),” as
explained to SINC by Francisco Ceacero, lead author of the study and
researcher at the department of Science and Agro-Forest and Genetics
Technologies of the UCLM.
The hinds chose the food according to energy and fat content.
According to Ceacero, “food quality gets lower and lower the further
away we move from the time in which the food is put out. In this way,
the dominant hinds receive more energy in their diet whereas their
subordinates do still get to eat enough but only the poor quality food
that is left behind.”
The same goes for cows and sheep
Although the discussion continues on the mechanisms that drive these
animals to know how to select the best food that meets their
requirements every time, the scientist ensures that “the preferential
selection of certain foods and the total rejection of others is clear in
both diet selection studies on wild animal populations and experiments
in captivity.”
The experiment combined behavioural study techniques (hierarchy and
food access observation), ecological study techniques (diet component
selection) and nutrition study techniques (nutritional value of each
food item and the dietary intake itself).
The team of authors, which also included Tomás Landete-Castillejos
and Andrés José García from the Research Institute of Hunting Resources,
suggests that the results are also applicable to other social ruminants
like cows, sheep and goats.
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