17 Adil UZTEMUR Abdülkadir ORMAN Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences JAPS 20242024/10/22 34 5 1201-1210 1018-7081 https://doi.org/10.36899/JAPS.2024.5.0802 <p>In ungulate species, adequate and balanced nutrition for newborns is crucial, and it is primarily achieved through effective suckling by their mothers. This study investigated the sucking behavior of&nbsp;<em>Gazella marica</em>&nbsp;fawns under semi-captive conditions. Observations were conducted using the Focal Animal Sampling Method, and in total 177 gazelles were observed in the study period. The Kruskal-Wallis test was employed to analyze the duration between long suckling bouts and total suckling duration, while the Mann-Whitney U test was used for pairwise comparisons of suckling duration, duration between short suckling bouts, and total suckling duration. Results showed a significant difference in sucking duration between twin fawns (14.1 seconds) and single fawns (16.5 seconds) (<em>P&nbsp;</em>&lt; 0.001). Additionally, the average sucking duration was higher in May compared to other months (<em>P&nbsp;</em>&lt; 0.001). As the fawns matured, the frequency of suckling bouts increased, with the duration between long suckling bouts reaching 321 minutes in August (<em>P&nbsp;</em>&lt; 0.001). However, no significant differences were observed in the total suckling duration between twin and single fawns (<em>P&nbsp;</em>&gt; 0.05). These findings indicate some differences in the suckling behavior of gazelle fawns in semi-captivity compared to those in the wild. Further research on gazelles under consistent conditions across different breeding stations is necessary to fully understand the suckling behavior of gazelle fawns.</p> Gazella fawns, average suckling duration, suckling bouts, total suckling Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum https://thejaps.org.pk/AbstractView.aspx?mid=2024-JAPS-1589