Puppet resting behavior in the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii)

Rest contributes a large part of animals’ daily life, and animals usually rest in two ways, standing or in recumbence. Small or medium sized ungulates bed to rest in most cases, and standing rest is very rare and hardly seen. Here we described a standing rest behavior of Tibetan antelopes (Pantholops hodgsonii) living on the Tibet Plateau which has not been reported before. We named the standing rest behavior Puppet behavior, since the antelope stand still for a certain time. Of the 304 individuals observed, 48.3% (98/203) of adult and sub-adult males expressed the Puppet behavior, whereas only 6.3% (6/96) of females did, indicating an obvious sexual difference. Puppet behavior occurred more frequently at noon and in the afternoon on sunny and cloudy days, meaning that daytime and weather were both influential factors. Puppet behavior was usually accompanied with rumination and sometimes ended with leg-shaking. Our results suggest that Puppet behavior may be an adaptive form of rest, which may serve a thermoregulatory and anti-predation function, and may be simpler and safer than recumbent rest.

休息在动物的日常生活中占据重要比重，动物的休息方式主要分为站立休息与卧姿休息两类。中小型有蹄类动物大多以卧姿进行休息，站立休息的情况极为罕见，几乎鲜有观测记录。本研究记录了栖息于青藏高原的藏羚羊（Pantholops hodgsonii）此前未被报道的一种站立休息行为。我们将该站立休息行为命名为拟态静止行为（Puppet behavior），因该物种会在一段时长内保持完全静止的状态。在本次观测的304只个体中，成年及亚成年雄性个体中有48.3%（98/203）表现出拟态静止行为，而雌性个体的占比仅为6.3%（6/96），表明该行为存在显著的性别差异。拟态静止行为在晴朗或多云天气的正午与午后出现频率更高，提示时段与天气均为影响该行为发生的关键因素。该行为通常伴随反刍动作，有时会以腿部抖动作为行为结束的标志。本研究结果显示，拟态静止行为或是一种适应性休息形式，具备体温调节与反捕食的功能，且相较于卧姿休息更为简便安全。