Alpine musk deer (Moschus sifanicus) are endangered ungulates, and thus, captive breeding is the main way to conserve their population. Studying their boldness is important for successful captive breeding; the behavioral trait of boldness is a hot spot in animal personality research, but few quantitative studies have investigated it in mammals. Herein, we conducted a standardized behavior test in the Breeding Center for Alpine Musk Deer, Xinglongshan National Nature Reserve, Gansu Province of western China to investigate the effect of captive musk deer’s boldness with respect to musk secretion and reproductive effort, and we tested the relationship of boldness with captive environment, gender, and age during both mating and non-mating seasons. The results indicated that the captive environment had no significant effect on boldness (mating season P = 0.799; non-mating season P = 0.152) and gender also had no significant effect on boldness (mating season P = 0.144; non-mating season P = 0.733); however, age had a significant effect on boldness

(mating season P = 0.012; non-mating season P = 0.009). Older age was associated with increased boldness. The boldness in the mating season was positively correlated to that in the non-mating season (r = 0.564, P < 0.001). Boldness during the non-mating season had a negative influence on male’s musk secretion (r = - 0.607, P = 0.016), while boldness during the mating season had a positive effect on the female’s reproductive success (r = 0.362, P = 0.045). Our results show that captive alpine musk deer’s boldness was affected by age and that there is a consistency in boldness in mating and non-mating seasons. Males with higher boldness during non-mating season secrete less musk, while females with higher boldness during mating season produce larger litters.

采用新异物刺激的方式,建立马麝惊扰反应强度指数,通过马麝惊扰后的状态量化其胆量水平,对甘肃兴隆山麝场圈养马麝交配季节和非交配季节胆量(Boldness)进行行为学研究。结合泌香量和产仔量数据,分析胆量对麝香分泌、繁殖成效的效应;同时分析了圈区环境、性别、年龄与马麝胆量之间的关系,以及交配季节与非交配季节间胆量的相关性。结果表明:圈区环境对个体胆量无显著影响(交配季节P = 0.799;非交配季节P =0.152),性别对个体胆量也无显著影响(交配季节P = 0.144;非交配季节P = 0.733),而年龄对个体胆量存在显著影响(交配季节P = 0.012;非交配季节P =0.009),个体年龄越大,胆量越大;交配季节与非交配季节之间胆量呈显著正相关(r =0.592,P < 0.001),但并无明显差异(P =0.095);雄麝泌香量与非交配季节胆量之间存在显著负相关(r = - 0.607,P = 0.016),雌麝繁殖成效与交配季节胆量之间存在显著正相关(r =0.362,P = 0.045)。圈养马麝胆量个性受年龄因素的影响,并在交配季节与非交配季节之间存在一致性,非交配季节胆量更高的雄麝泌香量趋于更少,交配季节胆量更高的雌麝产仔数趋于更多。