Applied Animal Behaviour Science 128 (2010) 97–102 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Animal Behaviour Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/applanim Feeding behaviour affects nursing behaviour in captive plains zebra (Equus burchellii) Jan Pluhᡠcek a,b,∗ , Ludˇ ek Bartoˇ s a , Jitka Bartoˇ sová a , Radim Kotrba a a Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science, Pˇ rátelství 815, 104 00 Praha - Uhˇ rínˇ eves, Czech Republic b Ostrava Zoo, Michálkovická 197, 710 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic article info Article history: Accepted 10 September 2010 Available online 14 October 2010 Keywords: Equus burchellii Suckling Nursing Equid Feeding Zoo abstract Equids spend more than half of the day feeding. Lactation is a very demanding form of maternal investment. In an environment such as a zoo, where no grass but several feeding sites are present, conflict between suckling behaviour of the foal and feeding behaviour of the lactating mother should occur. We observed 20 foals of captive plains zebra, Equus burchellii, at the Dv ˚ ur Králové Zoo, Czech Republic, and collected data concerning suckling events during 17 months of observation. First, we examined whether feeding by the mother while nursing affected suckling behaviour. We found that when the mother was feeding, the proportion of suckling bouts she terminated decreased with increasing age of the foal, whereas it did not change when she was not feeding. This result supported the trade- off between suckling and feeding behaviour which has been reported in other ungulates. Second, we examined what affected interruptions of feeding behaviour of the mother during the suckling bout. The proportion of interruptions of feeding by the mother during nursing increased with increasing age of her foal. This coincides with declining time spent nursing. In addition, younger mothers interrupted their feeding behaviour during suckling bouts more often than older ones. Mothers interrupted feeding during the suckling bout more often when they nursed a daughter than when they nursed a son. The results of our study show that feeding while suckling could reduce parent–offspring conflict and improve welfare of captive foals and mares. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Free-ranging equids feed for a rather constant 59–69% of the day (Duncan, 1992; Lobanov, 1983; Neuhaus and Ruckstuhl, 2002). In plains zebra, Equus burchellii, the time spent feeding does not differ between wild and those cap- tive populations where zebras live in grassed enclosures (Ford and Stroud, 1993; Schilder and Boer, 1987). However, in grassless enclosures in the zoos the zebras feed less time than in grassed ones (Andersen, 1992). ∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science, Pˇ rátelství 815, 104 00 Praha - Uhˇ rínˇ eves, Czech Republic, Tel.: +420 267 009 765; fax: +420 267 710 797. E-mail address: janpluhacek@seznam.cz (J. Pluhᡠcek). Lactation is a far more demanding form of maternal investment than gestation or oestrus behaviour and ovu- lation (Sadleir, 1984). The trade-off in energy allocation between foraging behaviour of the mother and nursing of her offspring has been reported in several ungulates; especially cervids. For example, red deer (Cervus elaphus) females may decrease nursing activities and increase time spent foraging when resources decrease (Clutton-Brock et al., 1982). Recently, Therrien et al. (2007) showed that white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns of food- restricted mothers had twice the number of suckling solicitations and rejected suckling attempts than control fawns. Lactating plains zebra mares need to spend more time foraging than in other activities (Neuhaus and Ruckstuhl, 2002; Schilder and Boer, 1987). Moreover, lactation affects social behaviour of herds as it is a key determinant of 0168-1591/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2010.09.003