Spotlight on
by David Lane
Indiana Master
Naturalist
Nature
The holiday season is usually a
time of families getting together.
Pictures on holiday greeting cards and
holiday stories often suggest that animal families are together in December
too. With some species, these images
are correct. With others, they are not
truly representative of animal social
behavior in December.
Of all the animals that are here in
this region and active during December, there are only five species in which
many or all of the family members—
male, female, and young of various
ages and sexes—are together now: coyotes, beaver, quail, geese, and swans.
In other species—foxes, deer, and
turkeys—we see fragments of families.
Muskrats and coyotes may or may not
fall into this group.
In December, the coyotes in some
parts are generally together in packs. A
pack generally consists of the dominant male and the dominant female,
the young of the year, young from
the previous years, and maybe aunts,
uncles, and unrelated animals. Because only the dominant reproduces,
there are no grandparents, cousins, or
grandchildren. Cousins or grandchildren would indicate reproduction by
another pair, and this is not allowed.
Beaver, common throughout this
region, will be spending the holiday
season in their lodges—male, female,
young of this year, and young of previous years, but no three-year-olds. The
male runs them off when the young of
the year appear. The three-year-olds
then find mates and start their own
families.
Quail of southern Michigan and
northern Indiana are family groups,
also. Sometimes two or three such
families will get together in a covey of
10 to 20 birds where they can help keep
each other warm, watch for predators,
and socialize the young.
Male and female foxes are together
over the holidays, but the young are
not welcome. Mating will begin during
or shortly after the holidays.
Female deer and the year’s young
will form loose groups that may also
include sisters and aunts and female
young of previous years.
Turkeys, on the other hand, form
flocks of females and their young.
Young gobblers may be part of the
flock, but adult males are not welcome.
Muskrats and coyotes may or may
not be in pairs and may or may not
have the young of the year with them.
Another type of relationship you
might see is an informal association
based on proximity. Animals in the
same general area may form loose
groups or just happen to turn up at
the same place, but no formal family
relationships exist. Adults and their
young may be present but simply as individuals in the group, not as families
or family fragments.
In this group are owls and cardinals. Owls will court and form pairs
in January; cardinals will court up
through March, then mate in March
and April. But in late December, male
and female cardinals and owls are just
hanging out together.
In observing these various strategies in social behavior in wildlife, it’s
easy to see similarities in human beings in our society. Holiday gatherings
produce similar behavior.
In some cases, we see large,
extended families where everyone is
welcome. In other extended families,
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