Development of Stereotypic Behaviors and Personality Traits of Captive Male Forest Musk Deer and Relationships with Musk Secretion

Forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) are endangered ungulates, and captive breeding has been effective for its ex situ conservation and sustainable medicinal musk utilization in traditional Asian traditional medicine. Methods of focal sampling and all-occurrence recording were used to evaluate the intensity of stereotypic behaviors and personality traits in 25 captive male forest musk deer. Additionally, musk secretion was monitored in this study, and muscone content was measured with gas chromatography, thereby analyzing the interrelationship between their stereotypic behavior, personality traits, and musk secretion. The results revealed no significant differences in stereotypic behaviors or personality traits across age groups (p > 0.05). Individuals with stereotypic behaviors showed a tendency toward secreting higher amounts of musk and muscone content compared to those without stereotypic behaviors, although these differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the exploratory behavior level and active behavior level were not significantly correlated with the secretion amount of musk. However, both the exploratory behavior level and active behavior level exhibited significant positive correlations with muscone content (p < 0.05). These findings provide valuable insights for the breeding, welfare, and ex situ conservation of endangered forest musk deer.