In most of the mammalian species the courtship is a very important event preceding the reproduction itself. In some species specific courtship strategies are well described, however, in horses they are not, although courtship may have a major impact on the reproductive success of the individual. In horses (Equus caballus), polygynous mammals with harem type of social organization, courtship naturally involved wide spectrum of behaviour, by contrast, under domestic conditions they almost do not occur. This diploma thesis addresses the courtship and reproduction in semi-feral and domestic horses, specifically Exmoor pony and Merens horse breed, and individual reactions of mares to the stallion in the breeding season. A total of 45 individuals were observed for 240 hours from February to June 2018. We assumed the similarity of courtship within particular couples, but the result of the statistical analysis was the opposite, a high variability in the behavioural pattern repeatability (ICC 0,235-0,832), which, however, did not correlate with individual mare characteristics, i.e. age (ρ=-0,194, p=0,472), parity (t=0,569, p=0,578) or postpartum estrus (t=-0,070, p=0,945). We also assumed that the mare, which would show aggressive behaviour to the stallion during the courtship, would end the courtship by leaving or...
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:nusl.cz/oai:invenio.nusl.cz:397067 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Boušková, Adéla |
| Contributors | Komárková, Martina, Fuchs, Roman |
| Source Sets | Czech ETDs |
| Language | Czech |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
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