Pronking

Stotting (also called pronking or pronging) is a behavior of quadrupeds, particularly gazelles, in which they spring into the air, lifting all four feet off the ground simultaneously. Usually, the legs are held in a relatively stiff position and the back may be arched with the head pointing downward. Many explanations of stotting have been proposed; there is evidence that at least in some cases it is an honest signal to predators that the stotting animal would be difficult to catch.

Stot is a common Scots and Geordie verb meaning "bounce" or "walk with a bounce". Uses in this sense include stotting a ball off a wall, and rain stotting off a pavement. Pronking comes from the Afrikaans verb pronk-, which means "show off" or "strut", and is a cognate of the English verb "prance".

Stotting occurs in several deer species of North America, including mule deer, pronghorn, and Columbian black-tailed deer, when a predator is particularly threatening, and in a variety of ungulate species from Africa, including Thomson's gazelle and springbok.

Stotting occurs in domesticated such as sheep, but in livestock it is typically performed only by young animals.

Stotting makes a prey animal more visible, and uses up time and energy that could be spent on escaping from the predator. Since it is dangerous, the continued performance of stotting by prey animals must bring some benefit to the animal (or its family group) performing the behavior. A number of possible explanations have been proposed for stotting. Stotting may be:

The English evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith concludes that "the natural explanation is that stotting is an index of condition and of escape capability", used as a signal especially to coursing predators. He also observes that "it is hard to see how it could be a handicap", unless perhaps it is a signal to other gazelles of the same species.

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