The use of breeding dens and the early kitten development was studied in a free-ranging population of Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus. Radio-tracking of female lynx allowed intensive monitoring of three litters during 1997, and additional data to be obtained from nine other litters in the previous 4 years. Females gave birth a maximum of one litter per year in spring; nine of the 10 births were recorded between the last 2 weeks of March and the first days of April. Kittens were born semi-altricial and reared for nearly 20 days in secluded hollow trunks. Afterwards, they were moved between different bushes, which served as auxiliary dens, where they began to develop walking and senses. Kittens first consumed meat at the age of 4 weeks, although they were not fully weaned until they were at least 10 weeks old. At the age of 2 months, kittens began to leave the dens, accompanying their mothers on outings. It is suggested that the pattern of den use was related to the stage of kitten development, to fulfil the kittens' need for both protection and space as they grew. Data on kitten denning and development should be accounted for in in-situ and ex-situ conservation programmes for this endangered felid.

Animals enclosed in amber often provide a unique insight into their surface structure. Such fossils of reptiles are rare and usually not extremely ancient, the earliest being no more than 40 million years (my). A recently discovered 120 my lizard from the Lower Cretaceous of Lebanon provides direct evidence that several common external features of autarchoglossan lizards had evolved by this time. Ecomorphology indicates that the lizard concerned had considerable climbing ability on open surfaces and perhaps in vegetation, and probably lived in a mesic forested environment, something supported by associated plant and invertebrate remains.

Amongst the watering pot shells of the Clavagellidae (Anomalodesmata), the least well known is Humphreyia, with a single species H. strangei. Unlike representatives of the other extant clavagellid genera, i.e. Clavagella and Brechites, however, where juveniles are unknown, there is a single juvenile (plus adult specimens) of H. strangei available for study. The Clavagellidae contains the weirdest of all bivalves, encased in a huge (in proportion to the tiny juvenile shell) adventitious tube with an anterior ‘watering pot’. The juvenile H. strangei is dimyarian with a large foot and byssal groove, and a large pedal gape; the entire body is enclosed within a bag-like periostracum-covered mantle cavity. Upon permanent residence, however, the anterior watering pot component of the adventitious tube is cemented to the chosen substratum, the adductor muscles are lost and the foot and pedal gape greatly reduced; the fourth pallial aperture closes and the pedal gape and the tubules of the watering pot are similarly occluded. Once cementation is achieved, further growth anteriorly is impossible and the adventitious tube is secreted posteriorly, to house the long siphons, and subsequently can be added to as growth increments. Anatomically, H. strangei has a typical anomalodesmatan arrangement of mantle cavity and digestive organs so that it is, probably, a suspension feeder. Inside the pericardium, however, is a pair of unique proprioreceptors which probably serve to monitor rectal tonus and thus control defecation, co-ordinated with siphonal retraction and extension. They probably also prevent over-filling of the capacious rectum. It is believed that cementation and adventitious tube formation occur at the time of sexual maturity and this change in lifestyle between juvenile and adult represents a form of metamorphosis – quite distinct from that which occurs in all bivalves between the pediveliger and juvenile stages – and seems to be unique to Humphreyia and probably Brechites. This family of anomalodesmatan bivalves is thus actually stranger than the already aberrant watering pot would suggest.

Population subdivision among mouflon sheep Ovis gmelini ewes and ranging behaviour of rams were investigated in the Caroux-Espinouse massif (southern France). Radio-tracking data from 32 ewes and 41 rams monitored in the course of a 10-year study were used to identify female units and to document the movement patterns of males during the rutting period. Cluster analyses, based on the distance between arithmetic centres and on the degree of overlap of locations, were computed. Ewes were found to be partitioned in three or four main units to which they were faithful. Movement patterns of rams were much more variable: half were faithful to a rutting range, overlapping one or more unit(s), and the others were not. We suggest that a combination of social and spatial attachment could explain this ranging behaviour. Females build up their spatial habits following their mothers and, when adults, they occupy the area where they have been reared. Their spatial attachment is consistent with their social preferences for other females. Males balance between antagonistic spatial attachment and social preferences for other males, and differ in terms of spatial behaviour. The genetic implications are discussed.

Antechinus agilis mate within a 2–3 week, highly synchronized period each year, with copulation consisting of short bouts of thrusting interrupted by longer bouts of rest during which time the male remains mounted. In the laboratory, mating can last as long as 8–12 h without any break in intromission, with captive paired animals generally copulating once per day (Woolley, 1966a,b). The mating programme used in this study examines the effects on copulatory behaviour of changing: (1) timing of access relative to ovulation; (2) order of mating; (3) the delay between the first and second males' mating access. The total mount time was divided into quarters and the changes in behavioural patterns assessed by examining changes in the frequency of five key activities; thrusting, pelvic side-to-side movements, walking, female resistance, and dismounts. No significant differences were observed in the time from initial pairing to first mount regardless of mating order or time of mating, nor was the total time mounted significantly affected by mating order. Significant reductions in the total time mounted were evident, however, for those males mating closer to the time of ovulation. The behavioural strategies associated with copulation in A. agilis significantly enhance arguments for equality between males and females in determining overall mating strategies.

This study investigated species recognition based on bark calls and full threat calls (FTCs) in three fur seal species, Antarctic Arctocephalus gazella, subantarctic A. tropicalis and New Zealand A. forsteri, that breed sympatrically and hybridize at subantarctic Macquarie Island. Bark calls, which are produced by males in male–female interactions, were more species-specific than their full threat calls, suggesting that bark calls could be used in species recognition and female mate choice. Further, the bark calls of A. tropicalis were more species-specific than those of A. gazella and A. forsteri, suggesting that divergence of calls between species is a consequence of phylogenetic distance, or has resulted from sexual selection through female mate choice. We believe the latter is more probable as we did not observe similar divergence in the FTCs of males. As such, the highly divergent bark calls of A. tropicalis may have resulted from sexual selection that has promoted pre-mating isolation via the process of reinforcement.

In recent years, laboratory measurements of locomotor performance of small organisms have been used increasingly to study questions in behavioural, physiological, and evolutionary ecology. Although a valuable tool that can provide insight into organismal function, behaviour, and adaptation, this approach is potentially limited by the quality of the data collected. Using the study of maximum sprint speed in lizards as an example, common problems in methodology that may confound interpretation of performance studies are discussed.

Although most snake species are tropical, very little is known about their biology. We monitored reproductive histories of individually marked natricine colubrid snakes (keelbacks, Tropidonophis mairii) for 18-months in a tropical Australian floodplain. Our data provide the first unambiguous records (for any snake species) of individual females in a natural population producing multiple clutches of eggs during a single breeding season. The snakes bred throughout drier months of the year. The mean size of reproducing females decreased over the season, whereas relative clutch mass increased significantly over the same time period. Larger females produced eggs that were not only larger, but also shorter and wider, than those of smaller females. Despite producing two clutches in short succession, female keelbacks grew over the intervening period. Thus, they switch from ‘capital breeding’ (building up stores of energy during the wet season to use for reproduction in the dry season) to ‘income breeding’ (relying on recently ingested energy to support both growth and reproduction during the dry season). Two females marked at hatching were recaptured as breeding adults <12 months later, confirming that maturation is attained more rapidly in this species than in temperate-zone natricines.

Examples of the ocular, digestive gland and brachial end-organ photophores of specimens from all 13 cranchiid genera are described. The cranchiine and taoniine subgroups have different ocular photophore morphologies, but very similar brachial end-organs in adult females. Most taoniines have ocular photophores that contain large numbers of crystalloids, but these are lacking in Helicocranchia and Sandalops. There are no crystalloids in cranchiine ocular photophores, in taoniine digestive gland photophores (Megalocranchia) or in the brachial end-organs of both groups. The cranchiine Leachia atlantica uniquely has one group of photocytes that contain aggregates with some similarities to the taoniine crystalloids. The end-organs of mature females have a glandular structure; the deciduous photocytes are structurally different from those present in the ocular or digestive gland photophores. The reflectors of Sandalops and Megalocranchia contain unusual arrangements of iridosomal platelets. End-organs lack any reflective structures. The comparative anatomy of the photophores supports the separation of the cranchiine and taoniine groups but the ultrastructural detail provides common links between the two.

Spectral and temporal features of echolocation calls emitted by 22 bat species from Italy (three rhinolophids, 18 vespertilionids and the molossid Tadarida teniotis) are described. Time-expanded recordings of calls from 950 bats of known identity were examined. Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, R. hipposideros, R. euryale and T. teniotis could be identified by measuring the call frequency of highest energy (FMAXE). Quadratic discriminant function analysis with cross-validation was applied to calls from the remaining 18 species. A function based on start frequency (SF), end frequency (EF), FMAXE and duration (D) provided a correct overall classification of approximately 82%. A classification model at genus level that also comprised middle frequency (MF) and inter-pulse interval (IPI) reached 94% correct classification. Two separate discriminant functions were devised for species emitting FM (frequency modulated) and FM/QCF calls (i.e. calls consisting of a frequency-modulated component followed by a terminal part whose frequency is almost constant) respectively. The former function included SF, EF, FMAXE and D and provided an overall classification rate of 71%; the latter comprised EF, MF, D and IPI, and reached 96%. The functions may be applied to bat habitat surveys in southern Italy since they cover most of the species occurring in the area.

Enhanced oxygen reserves in the blood facilitate diving in marine mammals. For pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), a developmental period of 4 to 24 months is required for blood oxygen stores to reach adult capacities. We investigated whether a similar developmental period for the blood occurs in cetaceans (dolphins and whales), a group of mammals that are exposed to diving immediately after birth. Blood samples were collected from wild and zoological park bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus aged 0–12 years. Red blood cell number (RBC), haemoglobin content (Hb), haematocrit (Hct), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were determined for each sample. We found that during postnatal development, RBC, Hb and Hct decreased from 0 to 1.5 months and then increased from 1.5 to 6 months, reaching adult levels by 3 years. MCV and MCH both increased from birth. MCHC decreased from 0 to 3.2 months and then increased. Adult levels for MCV were attained as early as 2 months of age while adult levels for MCH and MCHC were attained by 6 months of age. These results indicate that, for bottlenose dolphins, the development of the blood and its capacity to store oxygen is not complete with weaning, which generally occurs at 1.5 years old. The lower oxygen storage capacity of immature dolphins is likely to limit dive capabilities. Calculated aerobic dive limits (cADLs) for 0- to 2-year-old dolphin calves are 1.9–3.6 min, compared to 4.8–5.4 min for 3- to 12-year-old dolphins. Increases in cADLs from 0 to 3 years are attributed to increases in both body mass and mass specific oxygen stores while body mass alone explains the increases in cADLs from 3 to 9 years. The limited diving capacity of young dolphins may influence the foraging behaviours of newly weaned juveniles and females accompanied by calves.

Time for metamorphosis and metamorph size of moor frogs Rana arvalis and common frogs R. temporaria were measured in 22 ponds for 1–8 years. Environmental data in these ponds were also measured. Metamorphosis of the frogs took place from the beginning of June to the beginning of August. When both species were found in one pond, the common frogs metamorphosed up to 20 days earlier than the moor frogs. Most variation in time for metamorphosis, among ponds and years, is explained by temperature effects, but a causal relationship was not established. Within a pond, metamorphosis was later in cold summers than in warm summers. Size at metamorphosis was affected by tadpole density; at high densities metamorphs were smaller. Size at metamorphosis was not related to time for metamorphosis. There was an effect of pond drying; if ponds were about to dry up, metamorphosis was accelerated by about 2.4 days. Tadpoles from ponds with a late metamorphosis in the field had tadpoles that metamorphosed early in a common garden experiment, suggesting counter gradient selection.

Mandrill Mandrillus sphinx hordes in the Lopé Reserve, Gabon, the approximate centre of the mandrill species range, were studied over 3 years from 1996 to 1999. Part of the study site included gallery forests within savanna areas, allowing observation of entire hordes, hitherto impossible in dense forest habitat. Horde size and composition (sex and age classes) were documented using exact records on video film whenever a horde or subgroup crossed an open space. Mean horde size was 620, and hordes of up to 845 individuals were documented, probably the largest stable group size found in any wild, unprovisioned primate population. Hordes were cohesive throughout the study period and did not seem to be aggregations of smaller units. Mandrill societies seem to be quite different from the baboon societies, to which they have been compared to date. Mature, breeding-age males were not resident members of hordes, but entered at the onset of seasonal cycles in the females (as deduced by the presence of sexual tumescence) and emigrated once female sexual cycles ceased. The number of breeding males present in the horde at any one time is best explained by the number of sexually attractive females. It is postulated that the extreme coloration of males and strong sexual dimorphism in mandrills may have evolved through an enhanced need for competitive signals in a situation where no long-term social bonds between breeding partners exist.