Predation risk and lek-breeding in Uganda kob

Abstract

Reduced predation risk has been suggested as a major advantage to males and females of mating on leks rather than elsewhere, and as an explanation of why females often choose to mate on relatively central lek territories. Few studies, however, have yet attempted to quantify predation risk on and away from leks. In this study average per capita predation risk for adult male Uganda kob, Kobus kob thomasi, assessed from the distributions of live kob and skulls, was similar on and off leks. This was apparently due to a trade-off between improved predator detection at leks and a tendency for leks to become foci for predator activity. Within a lek, predation risk to males was relatively high around its periphery, but there was no evidence that the distribution of matings across lek territories was closely related to spatial variation in risk. Thus predation risk is unlikely to be a major factor determining why male kob mate on leks.