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Zoo‐based (ex situ) conservation breeding programs provide invaluable opportunities to uncover enigmatic behaviors and traits of focal species under managed care, which can support research and conservation management efforts. A suite of factors and a limited range have yielded population declines in the threatened narrow‐headed gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus). Better understanding its cryptic ecology and life history (e.g., reproductive ecology) offers conservation benefits. We analyzed data on courtship behavior, parity and litter size, offspring size, and neonatal growth from an ex situ T. rufipunctatus population at the Phoenix Zoo from 2009 to 2018. Courtship behavior and parturition phenology are likely linked with the North American monsoon season, yet the courtship window may be wider than realized. We document the first instances of interannual iteroparity and multigenerational rearing of successful breeders at the ex situ level. Litter sizes varied but were relative to maternal body mass, suggesting that fecundity may be driven by intrinsic condition (e.g., age and size) of breeding females. Mean offspring body masses were equivalent between sexes, and neonate growth trends were quadratic during their first 9 months. Sexual dimorphism became apparent around 4–5 months age. Much of these data are novel for T. rufipunctatus and provide insight into their reproductive ecology. Phenology of reproductive ecology and body size metrics can guide field surveillance, age estimations, and population ecology monitoring, as well as inform ex situ adaptive management practices. Strategies spanning the ex situ‐in situ spectrum are applicable to other imperiled taxa to better inform conservation management decisions. Research highlights: We report the first records of iteroparity and entirely ex situ reproductive generations for threatened narrow‐headed gartersnakes.Intrinsic body condition exhibits plasticity but may drive fecundity; sexual dimorphism develops around 4–5 months age.Reproductive phenology and age‐size data can aid in situ monitoring and conservation management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.10.007 Byline: Tara R. Harris Abstract: Intergroup conflict occurs in many social species and involves potentially complex motivations and interactions. To understand its complexity in wild animals more fully, a comprehensive investigative approach is needed, in which the multiple resource values and measures of fighting ability that potentially influence intergroup contests are simultaneously considered and controlled for. This study uses long-term data on eight neighbouring groups of folivorous black and white colobus monkeys, Colobus guereza ('guerezas') in Kibale National Park, Uganda, to investigate the factors influencing intergroup conflict. Adult males were the main participants in intergroup aggression. Of the three resource values investigated, food value had the most unambiguous positive effect on the tendency for males to initiate high-level intergroup aggression and for groups to win. Mate value positively influenced male initiation of high-level intergroup aggression, but not more so for the group that contained high-value mates. The presence of young infants had no obvious effects. Unlike in many other species, males were more likely to initiate intergroup aggression if their groups were smaller and contained fewer adult males than opposing groups. Groups with fewer but larger adult males, and to some extent, smaller groups, were more likely to win encounters. Moreover, the relative number of adult males/group largely affected the degree to which some other factors influenced male initiation of aggression and contest outcome. These findings reveal that a complex interplay between multiple resource values and multiple fighting ability measures can simultaneously influence initiation of and success in intergroup conflict. Author Affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany Article History: Received 15 May 2009; Revised 15 July 2009; Accepted 10 September 2009 Article Note: (miscellaneous) MS. number: A09-00314R

A study in which combined behavioral and endocrine studies of wild primates is used to characterize life history variables and mating systems is illustrated. Mating behavior revealed that females often solicit copulations from males, which may or may not represent an opportunity for female choice and females sometimes ovulate within a few days of one another, and their receptive periods may therefore overlap even in one-male groups of guerezas and despite the lack of a breeding season.

An infanticide observed in , Uganda, in the summer of 2001, is reported. Infanticide associated with intergroup aggression in accessing high-quality resources for the infanticidal male's group is analyzed.

Populations inhabiting the bioclimatic edges of a species' geographic range face an increasing amount of stress from alterations to their environment associated with climate change. Moose Alces alces are large-bodied ungulates that are sensitive to heat stress and have exhibited population declines and range contractions along their southern geographic extent. Using a hidden Markov model to analyze movement and accelerometer data, we assigned behaviors (rest, forage, or travel) to all locations of global positioning system-collared moose (n =  13, moose-years = 19) living near the southern edge of the species' range in and around Voyageurs National Park, MN, USA. We assessed how moose behavior changed relative to weather, landscape, and the presence of predators. Moose significantly reduced travel and increased resting behaviors at ambient temperatures as low as 15 °C and 24 °C during the spring and summer, respectively. In general, moose behavior changed seasonally in association with distance to lakes and ponds. Moose used wetlands for travel throughout the year, rested in conifer forests, and foraged in shrublands. The influence of wolves Canis lupus varied among individual moose and season, but the largest influence was a reduction in travel during spring when near a wolf home range core, primarily by pregnant females. Our analysis goes beyond habitat selection to capture how moose alter their activities based on their environment. Our findings, along with climate change forecasts, suggest that moose in this area will be required to further alter their activity patterns and space use in order to find sufficient forage and avoid heat stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]