Dubois M, Khazraïe K, Guilhem C, Maublanc M L, Le Pendu Y
Institut de Recherche sur les Grands Mammifères, INRA, CRA Toulouse, BP 27. 31326 Castanet Tolosan Cedex, France.
Behav Processes. 1995 Dec;35(1-3):93-100. doi: 10.1016/0376-6357(95)00044-5.
Our study of mouflon (Ovis musimon) rams in the Caroux-Espinouse massif (southern France) shows that several forms of philopatry occur. Some of the rams were sedentary, as were the ewes, up to the age of four years. Most of the rams, however, started to enlarge their home range from the age of two years. Rams of intermediate age visited their birth ranges during various periods of the year, whereas the adult males returned only during the rut. As potential mates were present on the home ranges of most of the dispersive males, it is difficult to interpret this process merely in terms of adaptation. We propose, instead, a psycho-ethological explanation, whereby the physiological disturbances intervening during the rut alter the significance of the range, the ram having to update the whole set of its sensory-motor past. This interpretation suggests that the animal has no representation of any pre-defined place, nor of any fixed aim. Rams would be able to reduce the imbalances they experience by creating a type of behaviour driven by a self-referential process, where spatial investment would outweigh any other evaluation, as an adaptative cost related to a possible inbreeding. This approach leads to reconsider the importance of spatial investment in animal's cognition and generally speaking the way an animal relates to its environment.
我们对法国南部卡鲁克斯 - 埃斯皮努斯地块的摩弗伦羊（欧洲盘羊）公羊的研究表明，存在几种形式的留居现象。一些公羊和母羊一样，直到四岁都保持定居状态。然而，大多数公羊从两岁起开始扩大其活动范围。中年公羊在一年中的不同时期会回到它们的出生地，而成年雄性只在发情期返回。由于大多数扩散雄性的活动范围内存在潜在配偶，因此很难仅从适应性角度来解释这一过程。相反，我们提出一种心理行为学解释，即发情期出现的生理干扰改变了活动范围的意义，公羊必须更新其整个感觉运动记忆。这种解释表明，动物没有对任何预先定义的地点或任何固定目标的表征。公羊能够通过创造一种由自我参照过程驱动的行为来减少它们所经历的不平衡，在这种行为中，空间投入将超过任何其他评估，这是与可能的近亲繁殖相关的一种适应性成本。这种方法促使我们重新考虑空间投入在动物认知中的重要性，以及一般来说动物与环境的关系方式。
