Threatened Mammals Affected by Human Exploitation of the Female‐Offspring Bond

• Published in: Conservation Biology
• Main Author: OLDFIELD, MARGERY L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1988
• Subjects: baleen whales
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.1988.tb00183.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1523-1739.1988.tb00183.x; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.1988.tb00183.x/fullpdf

Abstract: Biologists have implicated human exploitation of the mammalian female‐offspring bond as a causal factor in extinction or depletion. This paper discusses pronounced maternal defense and attachment behavior as a biological attribute of extinction‐prone mammals, and presents scientific and historical evidence of human exploitation or disturbance of the female‐offspring bond of more than 30 threatened species and subspecies Since premodern and traditional whaling practices commonly involved exploitation of the female‐offspring bond a detailed case study is provided for the great baleen whales. Finally, preferential predation of reproductive females with young is addressed in terms of its ecological and evolutionary implications for the long‐tem survival of wild mammal populations.