Abstract
Significant knowledge gaps persist on snow leopard demography and reproductive behavior. From a GPS-collared population in Mongolia, we estimated the timing of mating, parturition and independence. Based on three mother–cub pairs, we describe the separation phase of the cub from its mother as it gains independence. Snow leopards mated from January–March and gave birth from April–June. Cubs remained with their mother until their second winter (20–22 months of age) when cubs started showing movements away from their mother for days at a time. This initiation of independence appeared to coincide with their mother mating with the territorial male. Two female cubs remained in their mothers’ territory for several months after initial separation, whereas the male cub quickly dispersed. By comparing the relationship between body size and age of independence across 11 solitary, medium-to-large felid species, it was clear that snow leopards have a delayed timing of separation compared to other species. We suggest this may be related to their mating behavior and the difficulty of the habitat and prey capture for juvenile snow leopards. Our results, while limited, provide empirical estimates for understanding snow leopard ecology and for parameterizing population models.
Highlights
Parental investment theory postulates that parents should support current offspring if the genetically weighted benefits to the offspring’s fitness outweigh the costs to the mother’s (Hamilton 1964; Trivers 1972)
We report data from three Global Positioning System (GPS)-collared juvenile snow leopards and their mothers and describe the first stage of independence in this species, i.e. the time of initial separation between juvenile and mother, and the timing of dispersal
We show that snow leopard cubs stay with their mothers for an extended period of time and do not display initial separation behaviors until they were 20–22 months old
Summary
Parental investment theory postulates that parents should support current offspring if the genetically weighted benefits to the offspring’s fitness outweigh the costs to the mother’s (Hamilton 1964; Trivers 1972) This is likely to be influenced by many ecological factors, including resource availability (Fuller and Sievert 2001; Kvarnemo et al 1998; Whittingham and Robertson 1994), mating system and seasonality (Russell et al 2004; Szekely and Cuthill 2000), social organization (Moehlman 1989; Royle et al 2012) and the developmental period of the offspring (Olson et al 2008). With the development of satellite telemetry such as Global Positioning System (GPS)-collars, the tools needed to observe and quantify the separation and dispersal process are available Such studies are rare for elusive species because both the mother and offspring must be collared; this requires the offspring to be captured prior to separation, but when old enough to wear a GPS-collar
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