Prey Module 3

Function: Deer Mating Calls

Why are elk sopranos and red deer baritones? Why do fallow deer grunt during the rut, in comparison with the elk and red deer who grunt at the end of the long note in their mating calls? When scientists ask questions about deer communication from the perspective of ultimate function, it is as if they are zooming out from looking at individuals.....to looking at the entire population of individuals. They think in terms of the percentages of genotypes within the gene pool of the populations, and what in the past history of the species might have influenced those proportions to shift.

Learning Objectives:

• Distinguish between function and evolution perspectives used to identify testable ultimate hypotheses about body language of deer.
• Rank behavior units in terms of variability (fixed vs. flexible; instinct vs. learned)
• Integrate information from observations and sources to present the evidence available to test ultimate hypotheses about deer behavior.

Background:

Recently, scientists are examining in more depth the type of information that is conveyed in the mating call of elk and red deer. Ask your instructor for a list of references.

To encourage you to learn more about this topic, we recommend starting with these links. Next, we invite you to explore some of the links that look interesting to you on this list of background information, so you are aware of the available information that otherwise might be hard to find.

• Background Information for Students [online] [printable pdf]
• Brief ethogram of red deer [printable pdf]
• Illustrated ethogram of wapiti [microsoft excel workbook]

Activities:

Jump right in and learn by doing! You may choose to download this module and save it on your computer so that you can work off-line. You may print it and write on it with a pencil, or use the tools in Adobe Reader (9: typewriter tool; 8: advanced text tool) to write directly on the pdf file on your computer. If this guided inquiry is not intuitive, we recommend reading the teacher's manual for some handy tips. If you are familiar with spreadsheets, you may choose to download the entire curriculum and use the Excel Workbook.

• Module 3 [printable pdf]
• Video [albums]
• Entire Prey Curriculum [microsoft excel workbook]

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