MOTHER-OFFSPRING RELATIONSHIPS IN DONKEYS

The social relationship between female domestic donkeys (jennies) and their offspring was explored by observation of their spatial relations hip. The donkeys were kept together for life and the ages of the offsp ring at the beginning of the observation period ranged from a few hour s to 13 yr. There was a gradual change in the jenny-foal spatial relat ionship in the foal's first year reflecting the foal's increasing inde pendence. The offspring's sex made no difference to this relationship. Jennies stayed very close to their newborn foals but thereafter appro ached them less frequently and had an overall tendency to move away. T he foals responded by moving towards their mothers and so maintaining contact. Older foals were less persistent in following their mothers. In this study, jennies moved away most persistently from their 10-mont h-old foals. In unconfined conditions, this would begin the process of weaning. Since older foals are also often observed to be some distanc e away from their mothers, this also allows for the possibility that t hey can become separated by some external event. Under conditions of d omestic management, e.g., unlimited resources, confinement and reprodu ctive inactivity, jenny and offspring do not separate at weaning and t heir spatial relationship reverts to the close relationship seen betwe en jennies and young foals. This is due mainly to a change in the jenn ies' behaviour from leaving to approaching and, to a lesser extent, to an increased frequency of approach by the offspring. The result is a pair of adult donkeys that stay very close together and are equally ac tive in maintaining contact. This close relationship may provide some benefits. One potential benefit is an immediately available and willin g grooming partner. Another is the potential for the pair to develop a coalition for future support, for example, in accessing resources and mutual protection. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved .