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.

Animal personalities, reflecting consistent individual behavioral differences, are increasingly recognized as key factors influencing fitness. However, their role in the reproductive success of endangered ungulates remains poorly understood. In this study, 17 personality traits, including “Clumsy”, “Dominant”, “Vigilant”, “Affiliative” and so on, were assessed in 123 adult female captive Alpine musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) using a scale-based personality rating method. We explored the relationships between these personality traits and reproductive fitness indicators, including litter size, calving success, and fawn mortality. Our exploratory analyses revealed that “Clumsy” scores were significantly higher in females that experienced calving failure (miscarriage or dystocia) compared to those that successfully gave birth (p = 0.013, Cohen’s d = 0.88), indicating a large effect size. However, no traits were correlated with litter size. For fawn mortality, although initial correlation analyses suggested associations with “Vigilant” and “Affiliative”, these were not supported when a Poisson regression model—appropriate for count data—was applied with litter size as an offset (model p = 0.092; all predictors p > 0.05). These findings suggest that the previously observed associations between maternal personality and fawn mortality may have been influenced by the use of an inappropriate statistical model. Overall, our study highlights the importance of using distribution-appropriate models for count-based fitness data and provides exploratory, hypothesis-generating evidence that, while “Clumsy” may be robustly associated with calving success (large effect size), personality–fitness relationships in this species require further validation with larger samples and across different captive populations.

Enclosure space constitutes the fundamental habitat for captive animals, directly influencing domestication success and production performance. Alpine musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster), an endangered ungulate present on the Tibet plateau and surrounding areas, has been commonly farmed in captivity as an essential strategy for the ex situ conservation and sustainable musk production. In captive musk deer farming, understanding spatial selection patterns within enclosures is critical for improving farming practices. To evaluate patterns of space use under captive conditions and the effect of enclosure designing, we studied 70 captive Alpine musk deer housed in 17 enclosures at the Zhuanglang Musk Deer Breeding Farm (Gansu, China) during the summer of 2022 (from July 1st to August 29th). Focal sampling and all-occurrence recording were adopted to collect the behavioral data of the musk deer, and the point occupancy rate was calculated to analyze the enclosure space utilization patterns. The results showed significant differences in activity site selection and shelter use time among captive musk deer (p < 0.05). The central enclosure site (G5), which contains the shelter, exhibited the highest utilization rate (21.21 ± 9.19%). Shelter use was significantly higher in adults (22.09 ± 7.80%) than in subadults (17.27 ± 3.98%) (p < 0.05), and significantly higher in males (29.55 ± 5.65%) than in females (20.86 ± 7.95%) (p < 0.05). However, at equal population density, the shelter use time between all-male and mixed-sex groups was not significant (p > 0.05). These results reveal that captive Alpine musk deer display distinct shelter use patterns, with shelters acting as key spatial resources. Therefore, this study provides practical implications for optimizing enclosure design (e.g., increasing shelter quantity and improving spatial distribution) to enhance the welfare and productivity of captive Alpine musk deer.