FIGHTING TACTICS OF FALLOW BUCKS (DAMA-DAMA, CERVIDAE) - REDUCING THERISKS OF SERIOUS CONFLICT

Competition between male fallow deer (Dama dama), during the breeding season was studied to determine if conflict strategies were consistent with the reduction of risk. Agonistic interactions between males were analysed in relation to age, dominance rank and availability of matin g opportunities. The breeding season was divided into two main periods : the pre-rut began when ail males had cleaned the velvet from their a ntlers and ended on the last day before matings were first observed, w hile the rut refers to the period between the first and last matings. Overall, socially mature males (greater than or equal to 4 yr old) wer e involved in more interactions than immature (less than or equal to 3 yr old) males. Males established dominance rank largely by non-contac t agonistic interactions during the pre-rut and there was substantial carry-over of rank to the rut, when it was correlated with mating succ ess. The mating success of males was skewed; mature males achieved 99. 4% of the matings and immature males accounted for 0.6%. A mature male was 13 times more likely to fight than an immature male; the mature m ales that fought most often did so between 0.4 and 0.5 times per hour. During the rut, the number of fights was positively correlated across days with the number of matings. The majority of agonistic interactio ns (79%) comprising dyads of immature males, involved antler contact. In contrast, mature males engaged antlers in only 42% of their interac tions. Fights between mature males lasted more than twice as long as t hose between immature males and were more likely to occur between oppo nents with similar dominance ranks. However, towards the end of the ru t formerly mismatched opponents were more likely to fight. Thus males operated conditional competitive strategies to decide when to interact and fight. The persistence of rank order from the pre-rut period to t he rut and the tendency for mature males to resolve disputes without a ntler contact, served to reduce the frequency of fights and therefore the risk of serious injury.