Giant Panda Maternal Care: A Test of the Experience Constraint Hypothesis.

Rebecca J Snyder,Benjamin D Charlton,Bonnie M Perdue,Zhihe Zhang,Terry L Maple

doi:10.1038/srep27509

Abstract

The body condition constraint and the experience condition constraint hypotheses have both been proposed to account for differences in reproductive success between multiparous (experienced) and primiparous (first-time) mothers. However, because primiparous mothers are typically characterized by both inferior body condition and lack of experience when compared to multiparous mothers, interpreting experience related differences in maternal care as support for either the body condition constraint hypothesis or the experience constraint hypothesis is extremely difficult. Here, we examined maternal behaviour in captive giant pandas, allowing us to simultaneously control for body condition and provide a rigorous test of the experience constraint hypothesis in this endangered animal. We found that multiparous mothers spent more time engaged in key maternal behaviours (nursing, grooming, and holding cubs) and had significantly less vocal cubs than primiparous mothers. This study provides the first evidence supporting the experience constraint hypothesis in the order Carnivora, and may have utility for captive breeding programs in which it is important to monitor the welfare of this species’ highly altricial cubs, whose survival is almost entirely dependent on receiving adequate maternal care during the first few weeks of life.

Highlights

In mammalian and avian species in which females reproduce more than once in their lifetimes, reproductive success generally increases early in life, and subsequently remains constant until reproductive senescence[1,2,3,4]
Subsequent generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) revealed that multiparous mothers spent significantly more time nursing their cubs (F1, 2000 = 11.361, P = 0.001), grooming their cubs (F1, 2000 = 10.605, P = 0.001), and holding their cubs (F1, 2000 = 19.060, P < 0.001) but less time engaged in other maternal behaviour (F1, 2000 = 2.580, P = 0.108) compared to primiparous mothers (Fig. 1a–d, respectively)
We found that heavier female giant pandas spent less time holding their cubs (F1, 2000 = 113.513, P < 0.001) and had less vocal cubs (F1, 2000 = 96.032, P < 0.001), body weight did not significantly affect the amount of time spent nursing (F1, 2000 = 1.363 P = 0.243), grooming (F1, 2000 = 0.261 P = 0.609), licking the cub’s anogenital region (F1, 2000 = 0.339 P = 0.560), or engaged in other maternal behaviour (F1, 2000 = 0.792 P = 0.374)

Summary

Introduction

In mammalian and avian species in which females reproduce more than once in their lifetimes, reproductive success generally increases early in life, and subsequently remains constant until reproductive senescence[1,2,3,4]. Multiparous mothers[1,25], and interpreting experience related differences in maternal care as support for either the body condition constraint hypothesis or the experience constraint hypothesis is extremely difficult. Giant panda cubs are highly altricial and mothers support cubs on their bodies nearly constantly for the first few weeks after parturition[28]. By studying captive giant pandas that are consistently provisioned with high quality food and are subject to regular health checks, the effect of body condition on primiparous and multiparous mothers is mostly controlled, and it is possible to provide clear support for or against the experience constraint hypothesis in this species. If multiparous giant pandas exhibit more proficient maternal care, this would support the hypothesis that a lack of experience, rather than body condition, constrains maternal behaviour in primiparous giant panda mothers

Methods

Results

Conclusion