Abstract: Sociability is one of the most basic personality of animals, which could represent the variances of affinity and solitary among individuals. This study was conducted from September 16th to October 15th and December 4th to December 26th in 2019 at Zhuanglang musk deer farm in Gansu Province. We recorded behaviors of 92 captive alpine musk deer using integrated methods of focal sampling and particular behavior recording. Individuals’ sociability was quantified by measuring the expression of affinitive behaviors. The influences of gender, age, density and season on sociability were analyzed. The results showed that the sociability of captive alpine musk deer was relatively low (15.06%±2.43%, n=92). Individuals’ sociability was significantly correlated with age (r=0.223, P=0.033). The sociability of adults (16.39%±2.65%, n=83) was significantly higher than that of the subadults (2.78%±1.42%,n=9) (P=0.033). Individuals in high density enclosures (18.85%±2.95%, n=72) were significantly more sociable than those in low density enclosures (1.41%±0.66%, n=20) (P<0.01). There was no significant difference in individuals’ sociability between non-mating season (19.63%±11.30%, n=7) and mating season (17.79%±7.64%, n=7) (P=0.917). The female musk deer (15.88%±3.52%, n=39) was not more sociable than the males (13.94%±3.20%, n=53) (P=0.556). It is suggested that alpine musk deer should be farmed in sociable group with reasonable density to improve the individual’s sociability and domestication, and that individuals with higher sociability can be selected for strain breeding.

Key words: alpine musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster), personality, age, enclosure density.