ON OF BEHAVIOURAL ACTIVITIES OF CAPTIVE OTTER CUBS Italian…关于俘虏意大利人的行为活动.pdfVIP

Hysrrix, (n.s.) 7 (1 -2) (1995): 279-284 Proc. I1 It. Symp. on Carnivores PRELIMINARY DATA ON THE ONTOGENY OF SOME BEHAVIOURAL ACTIVITIES OF CAPTIVE OTTER CUBS PAOLA POLOTTI, CLAUDIOPRIGIONI RENATOFUMAGALLI Dipartimento di Biologia Aniniule, Universith diPavia, Piaua Botta 9, 27100 Pavia ABSTRACT - Two captive otter cubs (Lurra lutra), born in October 1992, were followed throughout 9 months, from January to September 1993,in order to study the ontogeny of swimming, hunting and sprainting activities. Cubs were able to swim as adults d o a1 9 months old. First observed attempts at independent hunting and sprainting occurred when they wcrc 3 and 6 months old respectively, but cubs were not completely proficient at these activities until they were 8 months old. Key words: Lutra lutra, Ontogeny, Cubs, Captivity. RIASSUNTO - Dati preliminari sullontogenesi di alcune attivith comportamentali di cucciolidi lontru in cattivitu -Due cuccioli di lontra (Lutru lutra), nati in cattiviti nellottobre 1992, Sono stati seguiti per 9 mesi, da gennaio a settembre 1993, con 10 scopo di studiare Iontogenesi di nuoto, caccia e marcamento. I cuccioli erano in grado di nuotare come gli adulti a 9 mesi deti. I primi tentativi di caccia e marcamento indipendenti Sono comparsi rispettivamenle a 3 e 6 mesi e Sono stati definitivamente acquisiti a 8 mesi di eti. Parole chiave: Lutra lutra, Ontogenesi, Cuccioli, Cattiviti. INTRODUCTION While studies on captive otters (Lutm lutru) have investigated the adaptive significance of behavioural activities such as hunting and food preferences (Erlinge, 19681, mating (Harper Jenkins, I98 1) and sp