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- Title
Male immigration triggers increased growth in subordinate female meerkats.
- Authors
Dubuc, Constance; Clutton‐Brock, Tim H.
- Abstract
There is increasing evidence that some vertebrates can adjust their growth rate in relation to changes in the social context that affect their probability of breeding. Here, we show that, in meerkats (Suricata suricatta), which are singular cooperative breeders, subordinate females increase in body mass after their father is replaced as the dominant male in their natal group by an immigrant male, giving them regular access to an unfamiliar and unrelated mating partner, while their brothers showed no similar increase nor did subordinate females living in other stable groups (where male immigration did not occur did) in this time period. Moreover, subordinate females showed a greater increase in growth rate when their father was succeeded by an unfamiliar immigrant male than when he was replaced by a familiar male who was already resident. These results suggest that female meerkats can adjust their rate of growth to changes in the kinship composition of their groups that provide them with increased access to unrelated breeding partners, which may occur in other mammals as well when breeding opportunities change. We show that while female meerkats increase in body mass after their father is replaced as the dominant male in their group by an unrelated male subordinate, neither their brothers living in the same group nor subordinate females living in other stable groups where male immigration does not occur show any similar increase over the same period. Our results suggest that some mammals can adjust their rate of growth to changes in the kinship composition of their groups that affect their access to unrelated breeding partners.
- Subjects
ANIMAL breeding; BIRD breeding; T cells; AVICULTURE; BIRD hybridization
- Publication
Ecology & Evolution (20457758), 2019, Vol 9, Issue 3, p1127
- ISSN
2045-7758
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/ece3.4801