SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND MATING STRATEGIES OF A SOLITARY CARNIVOROUS MARSUPIAL, PHASCOGALE-TAPOATAFA, IN THE WILD

The difficulty of observing the behaviour of cryptic, nocturnal carniv orous marsupials (Dasyuridae) in the wild has created a reliance on la boratory studies for the analysis of social interactions. Behavioural data on wild Phascogale tapoatafa suggest that previous interpretation s may be biased by laboratory confinement. The play of juvenile P. tap oatafa entailed brief, non-contact chases, which apparently provide so cial practice prior to the solitary, post-dispersal life of adults. In teractions between wild adults very rarely included physical contact. Most encounters (63%) comprised chases, of which only female-female in teractions commonly displaced the chased animal more than 3 m. Wild fe males readily deterred males from approaching closely by vocal threate ning, even during the peak of the breeding season, so that forced copu lation (as reported in captive dasyurids) was unlikely. Scent-presenta tion experiments suggested that sternal marking by males was intersexu al communication, and may serve, along with intersexual chases, to fam iliarise females with future mates.