Mate choice screening in captive solitary carnivores: The role of male behavior and cues on mate preference and paternity in females of a model species, American mink (Neovison vison)

Abstract

Mate choice studies suggest that choosy females benefit from increased fecundity, litter size, and offspring survival. Thus, providing females with the opportunity to choose among potential mates, deemed genetically suitable based on studbook data, might improve breeding management in production and zoo animals and thereby the sustainability of captive populations. Investigating mate preference via odor from potential mates before animal transfer is a proposed strategy for incorporating mate choice into breeding management. In this study, we test whether olfactory cues and signals from males can be used to assess and measure female mate preference in American mink. Eighteen females were subjected to a 4-day stimulus test in which females showed a preference for one of two males' urine and feces. Subsequently, each female was subjected to a 10-day mate preference test involving the same two males of the first test. Paternity tests revealed that 13 females had offspring, which could be assigned to only one male, suggesting that these females performed a mate choice. In nine of these females preference during the stimulus test was directed toward the male that fathered their offspring. Our results suggest that even though there was a preference difference in scent stimulus trials from potential mates this preference was not predictive of eventual mate preference or paternity. Other factors such as aspects of male behavior seem to play a role, when the mates are introduced. Our study supports that mate preference and mate choice are complex matters influenced by multiple cues and signals.

First Description of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Two Feral American Mink (Neovison vison) Caught in the Wild

“…Secondly, 11 of the 13 trapped individuals tested negative and did not show evidence of infection at necropsy, which clearly militates against a generalized outbreak. Thirdly, the solitary biology of this species [ 42 ] does not favor inter-animal transmission in the wild, and it also makes highly unlikely transmission from direct contact with humans.…”

First Description of Natural SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Two Wild American Minks (<em>Neovison vison</em>)

“…Outbreaks in fur mink farms have shown macroscopial lesions (nasal discharge, pneumonic foci, intestinal pneumonia) on animals affected [14], while the animals reported in this work did not show any alterations, altough it cannot be discarded due to the preservation process of the carcasses. The source of infection of these two individuals remains unknown, but since the two animals were trapped in different rivers, the solitary biology of the species [38], and its most aquatic ecology, the direct infection between animals seems unlikely. Another possible origin for this infection could be, due to the high dependance of American mink on aquatic environments [37], the exposure to wastewaters.…”

Designing an assay to evaluate behavioral responses to opposite‐sex conspecifics in the endangered black‐footed ferret (Mustela nigripes)

“…For our study, we combined the times that a ferret spent inside each novel nest box, and used this as our measure of exploration. We then used an ethogram to partition exploration into specific behaviors (Table 1) drawn from other mustelid work (Biggins et al, 2012; Kneidinger et al, 2018; Miller et al, 1996; Noer et al, 2017; Pedersen et al, 2004; Vargas & Anderson, 1998). We categorized behaviors into different ferret states, including “Investigative,” “Reproductive,” “Vigilance,” and “Comfort” (Breck et al, 2019).…”