Comparative behavioural studies help reconstruct the phylogeny of closely related species. In that respect, the serows Capricornis spp. occupy an important position as they have been assumed to be the closest forms to the ancestors of Caprinae. In spite of that, information on the behavioural repertoire of the mainland serow Capricornis sumatraensis is exceedingly poor. In this paper, we report data on the activity rhythms and social behaviour of rutting mainland serows in captivity (Central Thailand, January 1986; January–February 1987). Activity was bimodal with peaks in mid-afternoon and late night. Resting and ruminating peaked at noon and twilight. Four patterns of marking behaviour were observed out of a total of 1900 events. Males and females were found to use different marking sites and frequencies. A total of 33 social behaviour patterns were observed: 18 patterns concerned agonistic behaviour, whereas 15 patterns were relevant to courtship behaviour. A comparison across Caprinae species with unritualised piercing weapons (i.e., Capricornis, Naemorhedus, Rupicapra, Budorcas, and Hemitragus) has shown that inter-sexual direct forms of aggressive behaviour are used significantly more often than indirect ones, but for chamois, confirming Rupicapra spp. as the most advanced genus among them in terms of an early ritualisation of weapons. Conversely, horns of the goral Nemorhaedus spp. and the serow lie on the same plane of the frontal bones, thus making possible the usage of a dominance display through frontal pushing.

In postmodern societies socioeconomic changes characterizing the last decades shifted value orientations and attitudes towards wildlife, diminishing consumptive uses of wildlife, such as recreational hunting or fishing. However, no study has tested yet whether the same forces of modernization also increased non-consumptive uses of wildlife. We adopted multivariate random forests to model the effect of urbanization, average income and higher education over the conjoint incidence of recreational hunters and people who volunteer with animals at the municipal scale, in Tuscany (Central Italy). We also used time series analysis to see if these effects were supported by long term trends in recreational hunting across different areas. Urbanized areas, characterized by higher proportion of residentswith a higher education, are negatively associated with the incidence of recreational hunters, and positively to the incidence of people volunteering with animals. Cluster analysis identi fied two groups of municipalities, characterized by opposite incidences of hunters and volunteers, by a different magnitude of change in recreational hunting and by a different level of urbanization. Although hunting participation declined steadily over the last 15 years, this decline was greater at urbanized municipalities. These differences are likely to produce conflicts about wildlife management, and we believe regional agencies should adopt preemptive measures to mitigate them, such as improved data sharing and staff training about human dimensions of wildlife. Our findings indicate that the cognitive hierarchy can be a valuable theoretical frame to link socioeconomic dynamics to changes in human-wildlife relationships, even for non-consumptive wildlife uses.

Modernizationinduced socio-economic changes and their effect over the spatial distribution of recreational hunting and volunteering with animals. Human Dimensions of Wildlife,