Unusually high-pitched neonate distress calls of the open-habitat Mongolian gazelle (Procapra gutturosa) and their anatomical and hormonal predictors.

In neonate ruminants, the acoustic structure of vocalizations may depend on sex, vocal anatomy, hormonal profiles and body mass and on environmental factors. In neonate wild-living Mongolian gazelles Procapra gutturosa, hand-captured during biomedical monitoring in the Daurian steppes at the Russian-Mongolian border, we spectrographically analysed distress calls and measured body mass of 22 individuals (6 males, 16 females). For 20 (5 male, 15 female) of these individuals, serum testosterone levels were also analysed. In addition, we measured relevant dimensions of the vocal apparatus (larynx, vocal folds, vocal tract) in one stillborn male Mongolian gazelle specimen. Neonate distress calls of either sex were high in maximum fundamental frequency (800-900 Hz), but the beginning and minimum fundamental frequencies were significantly lower in males than in females. Body mass was larger in males than in females. The levels of serum testosterone were marginally higher in males. No correlations were found between either body mass or serum testosterone values and any acoustic variable for males and females analysed together or separately. We discuss that the high-frequency calls of neonate Mongolian gazelles are more typical for closed-habitat neonate ruminants, whereas other open-habitat neonate ruminants (goitred gazelle Gazella subgutturosa, saiga antelope Saiga tatarica and reindeer Rangifer tarandus) produce low-frequency (<200 Hz) distress calls. Proximate cause for the high fundamental frequency of distress calls of neonate Mongolian gazelles is their very short, atypical vocal folds (4 mm) compared to the 7-mm vocal folds of neonate goitred gazelles, producing distress calls as low as 120 Hz.

Detection of seasonal weight loss and a serologic survey of potential pathogens in wild Pallas' cats (Felis [Otocolobus] manul) of the Daurian Steppe, Russia.

We measured seasonal changes in body mass and pathogen exposure in wild Pallas' cats (Felis [Otocolobus] manul) in the Daurian Steppe of Russia in 2010-11. Pallas' cats lost about 30% of body mass over winter. Tests for antibodies to 15 potential pathogens showed that Pallas' cats were exposed to four pathogens. Two of 16 cats had antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii. Two had antibodies to Mycoplasma sp., and one each had antibodies to Influenza A virus and Feline leukemia virus. The percentage of antibody-positive wild Pallas' cats was lower than results reported for other wild felids in the Russian Far East.