Remote monitoring of communal marking sites, or latrines, provides a unique opportunity to observe undisturbed scent marking behaviour of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). We used remote camera trap observations in a natural experiment to test behavioural scent mark responses to rivals (either familiar neighbours or unfamiliar strangers), to determine whether wild dogs exhibit the “dear enemy” or “nasty neighbour” response. Given that larger groups of wild dogs represent a greater threat to smaller groups, including for established residents, we predicted that the overarching categories “dear enemy” vs. “nasty neighbour” may be confounded by varying social statuses that exists between individual dyads interacting. Using the number of overmarks as a metric, results revealed an interaction between sender and receiver group size irrespective of familiarity consistent with this prediction: in general, individuals from large resident packs overmarked large groups more than they overmarked smaller groups, whereas individuals from smaller packs avoided overmarking larger groups, possibly to avoid detection. Monitoring a natural system highlights variables such as pack size that may be either overlooked or controlled during scent presentation experiments, influencing our ability to gain insights into the factors determining territorial responses to rivals.

中文翻译：

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大小很重要：自然实验表明，非洲野狗的“亲密敌人”效应受到群体大小的调节

对公共标记地点或厕所的远程监控为观察非洲野狗不受干扰的气味标记行为提供了独特的机会（狼虎）。我们在自然实验中使用远程相机陷阱观察来测试对竞争对手（熟悉的邻居或不熟悉的陌生人）的行为气味标记反应，以确定野狗是否表现出“亲爱的敌人”或“讨厌的邻居”反应。鉴于较大的野狗群体对较小的群体（包括已定居的居民）构成更大的威胁，我们预测，“亲爱的敌人”与“讨厌的邻居”的总体类别可能会因个体二人互动之间存在的不同社会地位而混淆。使用过度标记的数量作为指标，结果揭示了发送者和接收者群体大小之间的相互作用，无论熟悉程度如何，与此预测一致：一般来说，来自大型居民群体的个体对大群体的过度标记多于对较小群体的过度标记，而来自较小群体的个体避免过度标记较大的群体，可能是为了避免被发现。监测自然系统会突出显示在气味呈现实验中可能被忽视或控制的包装尺寸等变量，从而影响我们深入了解决定对竞争对手的领地反应的因素的能力。