During this period, tiger activity was low, presumably because the species was resting. The limited data for wild pig suggest that it is also strongly diurnal (Laidlaw & Shaharuddin, 1998). Finally, there were several other putative prey species recorded in KSNP, argus pheasant Argusianus argus, mouse deer Tragulus spp., porcupine Hystrix brachyura and bearded pig Sus barbatus that may have

influenced tiger temporal patterns. However, these were not included in the study as they were not considered to represent principal prey species because of their smaller body size (Karanth & Sunquist, 1995; O’Brien et al., 2003) or, in the case of the migratory bearded pig, an irregular food source. Ideally, tiger scat samples would have been collected for a dietary analysis of prey species composition, but scats are notoriously

difficult to collect Selumetinib in tropical forests, because of low tiger population densities and high scat decay rates, and none were encountered during our field surveys. However, in the absence of difficult-to-collect dietary data, Selleck Ferrostatin-1 it is also valuable to demonstrate the temporal relationships, as conducted in this study, to provide new and much needed insights into Sumatran tiger–prey interactions. The methodology used here has wide application, especially for future statistical studies of predator–prey interactions or interspecific species competition. The authors thank the US Fish and Wildlife Service, 21st Century Tiger, Rufford Small Grants, and the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species for funding this work. The

authors thank the Indonesian Department of Forestry and Nature Protection for assisting us in our work, Yoan Dinata, Agung Nugroho and Iding Achmad Haidir selleck products for their help with the data collection and Tim O’Brien, Phil Stephens, Patricia Medici and two anonymous reviewers for useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. “
“Copulatory plugs serve as mating barriers in many animal species. We collected plugs and vaginal swabs from female banner-tailed kangaroo rats Dipodomys spectabilis in a wild population with all males individually genotyped, and used them as a source of DNA. Copulatory plugs solidly filled the reproductive tract, including the entrances to the uterine horns. Contrary to the popular hypothesis that plugs prevent females from remating, these plugs surprisingly contained DNA from up to three males. Alleles contributed by males were more numerous in internal sections of the plugs. Our results confirm that D. spectabilis females mate with multiple males and suggest that they avoid mating with close relatives. The apparent underrepresentation of DNA from related males implies precopulatory sexual selection, but postcopulatory mechanisms may also be at work.