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Individuality of a courtship in semi-feral horses (Equus caballus)
Boušková, Adéla ; Komárková, Martina (advisor) ; Fuchs, Roman (referee)
In most of the mammalian species the courtship is a very important event preceding the reproduction itself. In some species specific courtship strategies are well described, however, in horses they are not, although courtship may have a major impact on the reproductive success of the individual. In horses (Equus caballus), polygynous mammals with harem type of social organization, courtship naturally involved wide spectrum of behaviour, by contrast, under domestic conditions they almost do not occur. This diploma thesis addresses the courtship and reproduction in semi-feral and domestic horses, specifically Exmoor pony and Merens horse breed, and individual reactions of mares to the stallion in the breeding season. A total of 45 individuals were observed for 240 hours from February to June 2018. We assumed the similarity of courtship within particular couples, but the result of the statistical analysis was the opposite, a high variability in the behavioural pattern repeatability (ICC 0,235-0,832), which, however, did not correlate with individual mare characteristics, i.e. age (ρ=-0,194, p=0,472), parity (t=0,569, p=0,578) or postpartum estrus (t=-0,070, p=0,945). We also assumed that the mare, which would show aggressive behaviour to the stallion during the courtship, would end the courtship by leaving or...
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Potravní ekologie koní v kontextu ochranářského managementu krajiny
HÁJKOVÁ, Pavlína
This thesis provides a review of knowledge available on wild and feral horse feeding ecology, habitat preferences, competition overlap with other herbivores and their impact on vegetation. In summary, horses appear valuable for management of grasslands, but less suitable for regulation of shrubs and trees, especially when they are compared to cattle and cervids, which are more able to eliminate woody plants. Together with a tabular overview of literature on feeding ecology and plant taxa eaten by horses in the Holarctic realm, an optimalized protocol is provided to facilitate proper field collection of data about the feeding ecology and behavioral repertoire in large ungulates.
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Social relationships in feral populations of ungulates (with accent on environmental conditions)
Boušková, Adéla ; Komárková, Martina (advisor) ; Horáček, Ivan (referee)
The adaptation of feral ungulates to the environmental conditions is important topic nowadays, not only because they often feralise out of their original home-range, but also from the behavioural point of view. The aim of my work is to answer several hypotheses, covering the differences in social relationship of ungulates in the wild and domestic conditions and their connnections to the environment.The thesis describes the frequency and intensity of interindividual interactions (hierarchy, aggression and friendly behaviour) and compares this behaviour between feral and domestic animals. As a main result may be mentioned the fact that social structure of feral individuals is modified as a consequence of restrictions of social behaviour in the domestic conditions (creches in feral goats). The enhanced fertility, which resulted from the long lasting artifical selection process in the breeds, brought also increased fertility in the feral conditions. The sex ratio at birth was found not related to the feral state or captivity. I suggest that aggressive and friendly interactions are more common in the domestic, not in feral environment. Future research should be focused more throughly on the behavioural adaptations of feral animals.
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