Birth date promotes a tortoise or hare tactic for body mass development of a long-lived male ungulate

Eric S. Michel, Stephen Demarais, Bronson K. Strickland, Guiming Wang

Maternal and early-life influences may affect life-long individual phenotype, potentially influencing reproductive success. However, some individuals may compensate for a poor start to life, which may improve longevity and reproductive success later in life. We developed four models to assess whether maternal characteristics (age, body mass and previous year cumulative lactation demand) and/or birth date influenced a long-lived mammal's phenotype to maturity. We used a directional separation analysis to assess the relative influence of each maternal characteristic and birth date on captive male white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) body mass and antler size. We found that birth date was the only characteristic that persistently influenced male body mass. Depending on when offspring were born, they used alternative tactics to increase their body mass. Birth date positively influenced body mass at 1, 2 and 3 years of age-indicating males displayed faster growth and compensated for late birth (hare tactic). However, early-, heavy-born males were heavy juveniles, and juvenile body mass positively influenced mature body mass (slow but steady growth; tortoise tactic). Our findings provide a first evidence that a long-lived ungulate can display alternative tactics to achieve heavy body mass; individuals are either born early and heavy and are heavy throughout life (tortoise), or light, late-born individuals compensate for a poor start in life by growing at a faster rate to equal or surpass the body mass of early-born individuals (hare). Either tactic may be viable if it influences reproductive success as body mass positively influences access to mates in ungulates.