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Journal article
Conditional alternative movement tactics in male crocodiles
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol.77(3), pp.1-13
2023
Abstract
In species where conflict is costly, individuals adopt alternative movement tactics to minimise the risk of competitive interactions. Dominant males often maintain defined territories, while less competitive males may be forced to adopt alternative tactics to maximise fitness and reduce conflict. However, the extent to which males switch tactics according to current social or physiological status is poorly understood. Using implanted acoustic tags and a fixed array of tracking receivers, we investigated how the behaviour of 78 male estuarine crocodiles (
Crocodylus porosus
) shifted over an 11-year period in relation to ontogeny, body condition, and the extent of physical injuries. We discovered that male crocodiles sorted into three common movement classes, with 51% of males maintaining the same movement class across consecutive years (max = 9 years). Males > 4 m in total length maintained confined territories both within and across years and had the greatest extent of injuries and the highest condition score, indicative of territory holders. In contrast, smaller males sorted into high movement roamer or low movement site-philopatric tactics, where the tactic an individual adopted was less stable between years and did not correlate with condition or external injuries. Our study reveals the socio-biological mechanisms by which estuarine crocodiles coexist within a restricted habitat.
Significance statement
Identifying individual-level differences in movement helps us predict which individuals are more likely to be involved in human-wildlife interactions. However, studying long-term shifts in movement is challenging, as large datasets of co-occurring individuals tracked in their natural environment over multiple years are required. We tracked a population of 78 male estuarine crocodiles (1030–4687 mm total length) in a shared environment over 11 years and assessed how eight movement traits were linked to body size and physical condition. At the population level, males sorted into different movement tactics according to ontogeny, with large territorial males having better body condition yet a greater incidence of injury. However, 49% of males showed variability across years, suggesting that tactics were conditional relative to environmental variability and a male’s own status. Our study provides insights into the mechanisms and costs of movement tactics in wild crocodile populations.
Details
- Title
- Conditional alternative movement tactics in male crocodiles
- Authors
- Kaitlin E. Barham (Corresponding Author) - The University of QueenslandCameron J. Baker (Author) - The University of QueenslandCraig E. Franklin (Author) - The University of QueenslandHamish A. Campbell (Author) - Charles Darwin UniversityCeline H. Frére (Author) - The University of QueenslandTerri R. Irwin (Author) - Australia ZooRoss G. Dwyer (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Publication details
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol.77(3), pp.1-13
- Publisher
- Springer
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00265-023-03303-z
- ISSN
- 1432-0762; 0340-5443
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- Data and code are available on UQ eSpace (https://doi.org/10.14264/9b029a6), and data is available on the Acoustic Animal Tracking Database (https://animaltracking.aodn.org.au) of the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS, www.imos.org.au), a national collaborative research infrastructure supported by the Australian government.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99710584202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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