The relative roles of phylogeny, body size and feeding style on the activity time of temperate ruminants: a reanalysis.

In 1998, A. Mysterud analysed the relationships between a behavioural parameter (activity time, AT) and body mass and feeding style for 18 temperate ruminants. He found a negative allometric relationship between body mass and AT, and also found a significant effect of feeding style on AT after controlling for body mass. We reanalysed this data set taking into account the effect of phylogeny, and found that while body mass and AT were negatively related, feeding style did not have any effect on AT. We discuss the strong effect that phylogeny has on morphophysiological and behavioural features of ruminants that differ in feeding style, and the lack of evidence to support a feeding style effect.