Field Study of Mammalian Behavioral Development

斑点鬣狗，Crocuta Crocuta，在哺乳动物中是独一无二的，在雄性和雌性之间表现出许多行为差异，这些差异与正常的哺乳动物性别角色模式相反。特别有趣的是，观察到女性远比男性更具攻击性，并且在社会上占主导地位。Drs。Holekamp和Frank将对斑点鬣狗的行为发展进行为期3年的实地研究。本研究的目的是：(1)记录雄性和雌性鬣狗在婴儿时期的出现以及在亚成年鬣狗中行为差异的维持；(2)检验一些关于促进分散和优势相互作用等二态行为表达的因素的假设。研究动物包括肯尼亚马赛马拉国家保护区的一个大型鬣狗“氏族”。氏族成员的年龄、性别、亲属关系和社会地位都是已知的。数据收集将涉及无线电遥测和四种行为采样方案：扫描样本、焦点动物观察、关键事件样本和在研究现场进行的标准化行为测试。这项研究将在至少三个方面产生有用的信息：它将(1)提供其他群居食肉动物行为发展的比较数据，(2)促进对圈养鬣狗行为内分泌学和发育的同步研究中获得的数据的解释，(3)允许dr。Holekamp和Frank结合圈养研究，确定是否有任何已知的影响啮齿动物和灵长类动物行为性别差异发展的社会、生态和生理变量也在这个物种中起作用。

The spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta, is unique among mammals in exhibiting many behavioral differences between males and females that are reversed from normal mammalian sex-role patterns. Of particular interest is the observation that females are far more aggressive than males, and socially dominant to them. Drs. Holekamp and Frank will carry out a 3-year field study of behavioral development in spotted hyenas. The objectives of the research are to (1) document the emergence in infants, and maintenance in sub-adult hyenas, of behavioral differences between males and females, and (2) test several hypotheses suggesting factors promoting expression of such dimorphic behaviors as dispersal and dominance interactions. The study animals comprise one large hyena "clan" in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Age, sex, kin relations, and social status are known for all clan members. Data collection will involve radio telemetry and four behavior-sampling protocols: scan samples, focal-animal observations, critical-incident samples, and standardized behavioral tests administered at the study site. The research will generate useful information in at least three ways: It will (1) provide comparative data on behavioral development available for no other social carnivores, (2) facilitate interpretation of data obtained in a concurrent study of behavioral endocrinology and development in captive hyenas, and (3) permit Drs. Holekamp and Frank, in conjunction with the captive study, to determine whether any of the same social, ecological, and physiological variables known to influence development of sex differences in behavior in rodents and primates also operate in this species.