Object-horning in goitered gazelle: Agonistic or marking behaviour?

We studied object-horning behaviour in goitered gazelles in the natural, arid environment of Kazakhstan over a 6-year period. We found that object-horning was used by adult males mostly as a threat display during territorial conflicts. Therefore object-horning was observed most frequently in territorial single males during the rut in November-December. Object-horning, though, also had a marking effect, with the males' use of this behaviour leaving visible traces that advertized the location of preorbital and urination-defecation scent marks. Therefore, this pattern also was observed linked with preorbital marking and urination-defecation marking behaviours, especially during the rut. Goitered gazelle males chose the most abundant and eatable shrubs for object horning. In contrast to other gazelle species, object-horning in goitered gazelle was observed much more frequently and at the same rate as preorbital and urination-defecation scent markings. This, then, proved a more vigorous and aggressive level of rutting behaviour of the goitered gazelle compared to tropical gazelles, and most likely connected to the short rutting period in the studied species. We concluded, therefore, that object-horning was a manifold phenomenon that played a very important role in goitered gazelle agonistic displays, but without loosing the marking intention of this behaviour.