Preorbital gland opening in red deer (Cervus elaphus) calves: Signal of hunger?1 L. Bartosˇ2,J.Vı´chova´ , and J. Lancingerova´ Ethology Group, Research Institute of Animal Production, CZ-104 01 Prague 10-Uhrˇ´ıneˇves, Czech Republic ABSTRACT: The opening of the preorbital gland in preorbital gland was associated with feeding and red deer (Cervus elaphus) calves has been hypothesized achieving satiety. In most cases (77%), calves opened to be a signal to the mother that her calf is hungry. their preorbital glands before their meal. Eighty-five Closing of the gland should indicate that the calf has percent of hungry calves still had preorbital glands open received a sufficient amount of milk, and thus the after the meal, whereas preorbital gland opening was < mother should stop the suckling. We tested the hypoth- decreased (P 0.03) up to 46.6% in satiated calves. esis that the calf signals hunger when its preorbital Despite this, we found a large range in individual re- gland is open and signals satiation when the gland is sponses in preorbital gland opening before and after the meal, and also according to whether the calf reached closed. To test this, the behavior of eight bottle-reared satiety. The heavier calves in this study tended to have calves was monitored for 6 mo. For each meal during their preorbital glands open more frequently than the this time period, opening of the preorbital gland was lighter ones, which may indicate the need for an in- recorded before calves were offered the meal and after creased amount of milk intake. There was no clear trend they ate. Satiation of the calf was estimated (not beg- in the frequency of preorbital gland opening with age. ging for more food after the meal = satiated; begging = In conclusion, preorbital opening is likely to be a signal not satiated). The data set contained 3,116 records of of calf satiety, as suggested earlier. Nevertheless, preor- paired measurements of preorbital gland opening (be- bital glands were not always open when the calves were fore and after the meal). Calves were satiated after hungry and did not vanish during the feeding in all feeding for 90.15% of the meals. The opening of the cases. Key Words: Cervus elaphus, Hunger, Preorbital Gland Opening, Red Deer Calves, Satiety, Signal 2005 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. J. Anim. Sci. 2005. 83:124–129 Introduction gested for some cervids (Schaller, 1967; Mu¨ ller- Schwarze, 1975; Macnamara and Eldridge, 1987). In All cervids, with the exception of the moschus, pos- addition to its possible role in marking (Clutton-Brock sess preorbital organs, which consist of a glandular et al., 1982), there seem to be other functions for the region in a pouch adjacent to the nasal corner of the preorbital glands in red deer (Cervus elaphus). It has eye (Schaffer, 1940; Mu¨ ller-Using and Schloeth, 1967). previously been shown that dominant stags open There is no clear evidence of a role across species for this their preorbital glands when they are fighting (Bartos˘, preorbital gland (Gray et al., 1989). The most frequently 1983). Hatlapa (1977) showed that preorbital secretion reported role of preorbital secretions is that they are in red deer has a primary function in establishing used for territorial marking (Gray et al., 1989; Gosling, mother-offspring bonds. Further, it is believed that the 1990). This is typical for many ungulates (Mo et al., opening of the preorbital gland in red deer calves is a 1995; Burger et al., 1999a,b) and has also been sug- signal to the mother that her calf is hungry. Following this, closing of the gland should signal that the calf has received a sufficient amount of milk, causing the mother to stop suckling (Wo¨lfel, 1976, 1983). The interest in 1The authors thank T. DeVries for his kind help with preparing the possible role of the preorbital in signaling mother- the English manuscript. The project was supported by the Grant calf communication has recently been renewed for prac- Agency of the Czech Republic (GA 524/02/0711) and a grant from the tical reasons associated with the worldwide increase in Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic (MZe 0002701402). deer farming (Audenaerde, 2002). Therefore, in this 2Correspondence: POB 10 (phone: +420-267-009-657; fax: +420- 267-710-779; e-mail: [email protected]). study, the hypothesis was tested that the calf signals Received August 31, 2004. hunger when its preorbital gland is open and signals Accepted October 13, 2004. satiation when the gland is closed. 124 Preorbital gland opening in red deer calves 125 feeding. The calves were kept in an enclosure (500 m2) that provided a shelter and ad libitum access to pasture. The observations of preorbital gland opening started on May 30 (the day when the first five calves were placed into the enclosure) and lasted until December 14, when the calves were “weaned” and placed into a herd of calves that were naturally weaned by their mothers. Preorbital opening was recorded during two periods: just before the meal was offered and just after the meal was eaten. The preorbital gland was consid- ered “open” when the back of the gland (a white spot) was visible, and it was considered “closed” when no slit could be distinguished. After the meal, the satiation of the calf was estimated (not begging for more food by vocalizing toward the foster mother, butting or licking her, or attempting to get the bottle after the meal = satiated; begging = not satiated). Statistical Analyses Figure 1. Proportion of preorbital gland opening of the red deer calves before and after a meal. A greater All data were analyzed using SAS software (Version proportion (P = 0.001) of preorbital gland opening oc- 9.1; SAS Inst., Inc., Cary, NC). The differences in preor- curred before a meal than after a meal. Significance was bital opening before and after a meal were tested using computed by MacNemar’s matched pair data test (n = McNemar’s χ2 test for matched-pair data (McNemar, 3,116). 1947), calculated according to Stokes et al. (2000). To assess the effect of satiety on preorbital opening, we applied an analysis of categorical repeated measure- Materials and Methods ments based on the generalized estimating equation approach (Liang and Zeger, 1986) using the GENMOD procedure. The GENMOD procedure was designed to Animals and Handling model the probability of opening the preorbital gland. This study received approval for animal use and care To account for the repeated measures on the same indi- from the institutional committee. viduals across the period of observation, the analysis Preorbital gland opening was observed in eight arti- was performed with the individual calf in the RE- ficially reared red deer calves (one male, seven females). PEATED statement. The explanatory variables were The calves were collected from a commercial deer farm the classes “satiety of the calf” (yes or no; not begging (Vimperk, Czech Republic) within the first day of their for more food after the meal, “satiety of the calf” = yes; life. They were then weighed, marked by ear tags and begging, ’satiety of the calf’ = no) and the continuous numbered collars, and transported to another facility variable “age of the calf” (in days). Both explanatory where one person reared and fed them over a period of variables and interaction term were tested, but are not 6 mo. The calves were imprinted to a foster mother so reported unless they were statistically significant (P < that they became completely tame. They approached 0.05). Individual differences in preorbital gland opening her, vocalized to her, and when being fed, they butted among the calves were tested by a modified model of the her in the same way they would butt the udder of a logistic regression (PROC GENMOD), with the effect of nursing hind. A bottle containing milk (1,000 mL of 2% the calf as an explanatory variable. The other explana- cow milk, 500 mL of 33% cream, six egg yolks, and tory variables were the same classes as in previous vitamin C [100 mg of ascorbic acid]; Celaskon, SPOFA, model: “satiety of the calf” and “age of the calf.” A record Prague, Czech Republic), prepared after Bartosˇ et al. of preorbital opening was omitted when any of the vari- (1991), was offered to the calves four times each day ables required for the analysis was missing. during the first 4 wk, and decreased with the age of The relationship between preorbital gland opening the calves to one feeding a day at the end of the bottle and the birth weight of the calves was tested using the rearing, which followed the natural process of weaning Cochran-Armitage trend test (Agresti, 1990; Stokes et at the age of 6 mo. Each calf consumed from 80 to al., 2000). 1,500 mL of milk per feeding according to its age and To see whether there was any individual pattern in requirements. The quantity of milk was prepared so preorbital gland opening after the meal, a Spearman that each calf could reach satiety. If it did not, the correlation was applied between the percentage of pre- quantity was either supplemented by milk not con- orbital glands open after the meal when the calf was sumed by another calf and/or was increased for the next satiated and when it was not satiated. 126 Bartosˇ et al. Figure 2. Proportion of opened or closed preorbital glands before a meal, after a meal when the calf was not satiated and after the meal when the calf was satiated for individual calves. Each bar represents results for one calf and n = 521, 332, 234, 445, 368, 403, 400, and 413 observations per calf (from left to right, respectively).