Social interactions and mating strategies of a solitary carnivorous marsupial, Phascogale tapoatafa, in the wild

Abstract

The difficulty of observing the behaviour of cryptic, nocturnal carnivorous marsupials (Dasyuridae) in the wild has created a reliance on laboratory studies for the analysis of social interactions. Behavioural data on wild Phascogale tapoatafa suggest that previous interpretations may be biased by laboratory confinement. The play of juvenile P. tapoatafa entailed brief, non-contact chases, which apparently provide social practice prior to the solitary, post-dispersal life of adults. Interactions between wild adults very rarely included physical contact. Most encounters (63%) comprised chases, of which only female-female interactions commonly displaced the chased animal more than 3 m. Wild females readily deterred males from approaching closely by vocal threatening, even during the peak of the breeding season, so that forced copulation (as reported in captive dasyurids) was unlikely. Scent-presentation experiments suggested that sternal marking by males was intersexual communication, and may serve, along with intersexual chases, to familiarise females with future mates.