Abstract
Dens are crucial in the early development of many mammals, making den site selection an important component of parental care in such species. Resource availability and shelter from predators primarily govern den selection. Species inhabiting human-dominated landscapes typically den away from human disturbance, often shifting dens to avoid humans during the early life of their young. Domesticated dogs have evolved in human proximity over centuries, being bred and reared in human homes for generations. While pets rely on their owners for shelter and care, free-ranging dogs roam uncared, and typically whelp in dens. We conducted a study on 148 free-ranging dog dens in India to understand their denning habits. Distance from resources influenced den choice, but anthropogenic disturbance did not. Dens were found in areas of high human activity, and begging from humans was preferred over scavenging. A study on 15 pregnant females revealed that females actively searched for denning sites, rejecting several intermediate ones before selecting the final den. We propose that the obvious preference of dogs for denning close to humans is a behavioural adaptation that helps them to survive in the urban landscape, in spite of the high human induced mortality during the early life of pups.
Highlights
Parental care is defined as “any form of parental behaviour that appears likely to increase the fitness of offspring”[1]
A 3d plot of frequencies against den scores and litter sizes revealed a pattern of higher incidence of medium to large den scores over small ones, irrespective of litter size (Fig. 1), suggesting that there might be a preference for certain parameters that we used to characterize the dens
Canids typically prefer to den close to water sources[67,69,70], and this was true of the free-ranging dogs
Summary
Parental care is defined as “any form of parental behaviour that appears likely to increase the fitness of offspring”[1]. Pet dogs breed and whelp under human supervision, but show basic denning behaviours like selecting a preferred spot, digging into the ground and tearing bedding material prior to whelping[54] They have been reported to abandon the den suddenly in order to give birth in the proximity of a preferred human[54]. Free-ranging dogs in India are found in all possible human habitations, from forest fringes to metropolitan cities, and they are typically scavengers, surviving on scraps and wastes from human kitchens[41,53,64] They breed in and around human habitations, and, unlike their wilder relatives, do not avoid human interactions during pup rearing[5]. We hypothesize that dogs would prefer denning sites that provide greater protection from predators, less anthropogenic disturbance and easy access to resources
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