Abstract
To construct an ethogram of Sacalia quadriocellata and introduce coding system into chelonian behavior research for quantitative comparison, 15 captive S. quadriocellata (eight females and seven males) were observed for one year using a digital surveillance system, and an ethogram constructed. Fourteen types of states and 84 types of events were recorded. Seventy-five behaviors were defined and described, and these were classified into eight categories of behavior: Feeding, Elimination, Conflict, Alert, Rest, Locomotion, Courtship, and Other. Feeding, Elimination, and Locomotion are frequent behaviors, whereas Conflict and Other behaviors are seldom observed. Mainly, this may be caused by environmental conditions that eliminate these plastic behaviors (e.g., Conflict and Other behaviors) and keep the nonplastic behaviors (e.g., Feeding, Elimination, and Locomotion). Finally, the comparison between S. quadriocellata and other chelonian species indicate that the behavioral patterns are similar on the whole, but the Conflict behaviors of S. quadriocellata are milder than other species.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 318-325 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Herpetology |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2009 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Experiment protocols were developed in consultation with, and oversight of, H.-c. Mi, master of Hainan Livestock Modification Centre, Haikou. We thank R. MacCulloch for valuable comments on the manuscript. L.J. Wang gave us many useful suggestions from the beginning of this study. C. Yon, Y.-g. Ma, M.-g. Hu, and L.-y. He provided valuable assistance.Funding
This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (30260019 and 30660026) and the Hainan Key Project of Science and Technology (06122). International collaboration was supported by Cleveland Zoo. Grants to RWM were received from the Board of Governors, Royal Ontario Museum, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grant A3148).