Courtship and agonistic behavior in mouflon sheep

Abstract

Although native to Corsica and Sardinia, mouflon sheep ( Ovis orientalis musimon) have been widely introduced to other areas, including the United States. This study examines the courtship and agonistic behavior of 2 captive mixed-sex herds in west-central Texas, U.S.A. These herds were observed in large enclosures on game ranches during the autumn of 1980. Inter- or intra-sexual interactions consisted of one or more repeated behavioral postures (i.e. low stretch, twist, foreleg kick, sniff rear, urination, flehmen, mount, horn threat, chest push, neck fighting, head butt, clash, horn rubbing, chase). Ninety-five male-male, 63 female-female and 155 male-female interactions were observed. Low intensity agonistic displays (with total number of occurrences in the interactions given in paren-theses) such as foreleg kicks (154) and twists (141) were most frequently seen in male-male interactions. Although head butting (96) was commonly observed in male-male encounters, clashes (52) were also prominent. In female-female agonistic interactions, an unexpectedly high frequency of head butts (99) were regularly exhibited. Agonistic and courtship behavior patterns such as twist (131) and flehmen (106) were prominent in the behavior of males toward females. Although males would occasionally head butt a female (22), they seemed to inhibit clashing in their interactions with the hornless females. In most cases, female-female interactions were initiated by head butts (46) and male-male encounters began with either a head butt (23) or twist (18). Male-female interactions showed more variation in the behaviors which initiated the encounter, but usually began with a twist (39), flehmen (29) or low stretch (20) by the male. The observations of mouflon in this study conformed well with previous reports of sheep behavior.