Communication is key: Mother-offspring signaling can affect behavioral responses and offspring survival in feral horses (Equus caballus).

ABSTRACT: Acoustic signaling plays an important role in mother-offspring recognition and subsequent bond-formation. It remains unclear, however, if mothers and offspring use acoustic signaling in the same ways and for the same reasons throughout the juvenile stage, particularly after mutual recognition has been adequately established. Moreover, despite its critical role in mother-offspring bond formation, research explicitly linking mother-infant communication strategies to offspring survival are lacking. We examined the communicative patterns of mothers and offspring in the feral horse (Equus caballus) to better understand 1) the nature of mother-offspring communication throughout the first year of development; 2) the function(s) of mother- vs. offspring-initiated communication and; 3) the importan

SUBMITTER: Nunez CMV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7164835 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature