A free-ranging, feral mare Equus caballus affords similar maternal care to her genetic and adopted offspring

Cassandra M.V. Nuñez; James S. Adelman; Daniel Ian Rubenstein

doi:10.1086/673214

A free-ranging, feral mare Equus caballus affords similar maternal care to her genetic and adopted offspring

Cassandra M.V. Nuñez, James S. Adelman, Daniel Ian Rubenstein

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Adoption of nongenetic offspring occurs in a variety of species but is rare in equids. We report a case of adoption by a freeranging, feral mare Equus caballus and compare the maternal care received by her genetic offspring (born 1995) to that of her adopted offspring (born 1996) for the first 30 weeks of development. We compare five measures of care: (1) total time spent suckling, (2) mare aggression during suckling, (3) number of mare-terminated suckling bouts, (4) contact maintenance, and (5) mare-foal distance. For most behaviors, we detected no difference in the mare's treatment of the two foals; however, mare-foal distance was greater for the genetic offspring. We compare hypotheses regarding the reasons for adoption, offering postpartum physiological state as a potential driver.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	674-681
Number of pages	8
Journal	American Naturalist
Volume	182
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/673214
State	Published - Nov 2013

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Keywords

Adoption
Equus caballus
Feral horse
Mare
Maternal care

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10.1086/673214

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title = "A free-ranging, feral mare Equus caballus affords similar maternal care to her genetic and adopted offspring",

abstract = "Adoption of nongenetic offspring occurs in a variety of species but is rare in equids. We report a case of adoption by a freeranging, feral mare Equus caballus and compare the maternal care received by her genetic offspring (born 1995) to that of her adopted offspring (born 1996) for the first 30 weeks of development. We compare five measures of care: (1) total time spent suckling, (2) mare aggression during suckling, (3) number of mare-terminated suckling bouts, (4) contact maintenance, and (5) mare-foal distance. For most behaviors, we detected no difference in the mare's treatment of the two foals; however, mare-foal distance was greater for the genetic offspring. We compare hypotheses regarding the reasons for adoption, offering postpartum physiological state as a potential driver.",

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AU - Nuñez, Cassandra M.V.

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AU - Rubenstein, Daniel Ian

PY - 2013/11

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AB - Adoption of nongenetic offspring occurs in a variety of species but is rare in equids. We report a case of adoption by a freeranging, feral mare Equus caballus and compare the maternal care received by her genetic offspring (born 1995) to that of her adopted offspring (born 1996) for the first 30 weeks of development. We compare five measures of care: (1) total time spent suckling, (2) mare aggression during suckling, (3) number of mare-terminated suckling bouts, (4) contact maintenance, and (5) mare-foal distance. For most behaviors, we detected no difference in the mare's treatment of the two foals; however, mare-foal distance was greater for the genetic offspring. We compare hypotheses regarding the reasons for adoption, offering postpartum physiological state as a potential driver.

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A free-ranging, feral mare Equus caballus affords similar maternal care to her genetic and adopted offspring

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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