Do meerkat (Suricata suricatta) pups exhibit strategic begging behaviour and so exploit adults that feed at relatively high rates?

Madden, Joah R.; Kunc, Hansjoerg P.; English, Sinéad; Manser, Marta B.; Clutton‐Brock, Tim

doi:10.1007/s00265-009-0777-7

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Mothers may differ in quality beyond variation in dominance status and age, for example, and given the high variation among individuals in cooperative behaviour (Madden et al . ; English, Nakagawa & Clutton‐Brock ), the number of helpers may not entirely encompass the early social environment experienced by young.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given that body mass growth is highly plastic, however, other aspects of the early maternal, social and abiotic environment not considered in the current analysis may shape development in the long term in this species. Mothers may differ in quality beyond variation in dominance status and age, for example, and given the high variation among individuals in cooperative behaviour (Madden et al 2009;English, Nakagawa & Clutton-Brock 2010), the number of helpers may not entirely encompass the early social environment experienced by young.…”

Section: Predictorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Maternal, social and abiotic environmental effects on growth vary across life stages in a cooperative mammal

English

Bateman

Marés

et al. 2013

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Resource availability plays a key role in driving variation in somatic growth and body condition, and the factors determining access to resources vary considerably across life stages. Parents and carers may exert important influences in early life, when individuals are nutritionally dependent, with abiotic environmental effects having stronger influences later in development as individuals forage independently.Most studies have measured specific factors influencing growth across development or have compared relative influences of different factors within specific life stages. Such studies may not capture whether early-life factors continue to have delayed effects at later stages, or whether social factors change when individuals become nutritionally independent and adults become competitors for, rather than providers of, food.Here, we examined variation in the influence of the abiotic, social and maternal environment on growth across life stages in a wild population of cooperatively breeding meerkats. Cooperatively breeding vertebrates are ideal for investigating environmental influences on growth. In addition to experiencing highly variable abiotic conditions, cooperative breeders are typified by heterogeneity both among breeders, with mothers varying in age and social status, and in the number of carers present.Recent rainfall had a consistently marked effect on growth across life stages, yet other seasonal terms only influenced growth during stages when individuals were growing fastest. Group size and maternal dominance status had positive effects on growth during the period of nutritional dependence on carers, but did not influence mass at emergence (at 1 month) or growth at independent stages (>4 months). Pups born to older mothers were lighter at 1 month of age and subsequently grew faster as subadults. Males grew faster than females during the juvenile and subadult stage only.Our findings demonstrate the complex ways in which the external environment influences development in a cooperative mammal. Individuals are most sensitive to social and maternal factors during the period of nutritional dependence on carers, whereas direct environmental effects are relatively more important later in development. Understanding the way in which environmental sensitivity varies across life stages is likely to be an important consideration in predicting trait responses to environmental change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Predictorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal, social and abiotic environmental effects on growth vary across life stages in a cooperative mammal

English

Bateman

Marés

et al. 2013

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…In meerkats and dwarf mongooses, offspring are reared communally ( H. parvula : Rood, 1978, 1980, 1983 b , 1990; Rasa, 1987 a ; Creel & Creel, ; S. suricatta : Clutton‐Brock et al ., 2000, 2001 a , b ; Brotherton et al ., ). However, individual contributions can differ distinctively with regard to rank (dominants versus subordinates) and sex, and they depend critically on the helper:pup ratio ( S. suricatta : Clutton‐Brock et al ., ; English et al ., ; Madden et al ., 2009 d ; English, Nakagawa & Clutton‐Brock, ). They also underlie a trade‐off with other cooperative activities, such as the costs for helpers due to their contributions to communal territorial defence (Mares et al ., ).…”

Section: Social Structure: Competition Associations and Cooperative mentioning

confidence: 98%

Social systems and life‐history characteristics of mongooses

Schneider

Kappeler

2013

Biological Reviews

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The diversity of extant carnivores provides valuable opportunities for comparative research to illuminate general patterns of mammalian social evolution. Recent field studies on mongooses (Herpestidae), in particular, have generated detailed behavioural and demographic data allowing tests of assumptions and predictions of theories of social evolution. The first studies of the social systems of their closest relatives, the Malagasy Eupleridae, also have been initiated. The literature on mongooses was last reviewed over 25 years ago. In this review, we summarise the current state of knowledge on the social organisation, mating systems and social structure (especially competition and cooperation) of the two mongoose families. Our second aim is to evaluate the contributions of these studies to a better understanding of mammalian social evolution in general. Based on published reports or anecdotal information, we can classify 16 of the 34 species of Herpestidae as solitary and nine as group-living; there are insufficient data available for the remainder. There is a strong phylogenetic signal of sociality with permanent complex groups being limited to the genera Crossarchus, Helogale, Liberiictis, Mungos, and Suricata. Our review also indicates that studies of solitary and social mongooses have been conducted within different theoretical frameworks: whereas solitary species and transitions to gregariousness have been mainly investigated in relation to ecological determinants, the study of social patterns of highly social mongooses has instead been based on reproductive skew theory. In some group-living species, group size and composition were found to determine reproductive competition and cooperative breeding through group augmentation. Infanticide risk and inbreeding avoidance connect social organisation and social structure with reproductive tactics and life histories, but their specific impact on mongoose sociality is still difficult to evaluate. However, the level of reproductive skew in social mongooses is not only determined by the costs and benefits of suppressing each other's breeding attempts, but also influenced by resource abundance. Thus, dispersal, as a consequence of eviction, is also linked to the costs of co-breeding in the context of food competition. By linking these facts, we show that the socio-ecological model and reproductive skew theory share some determinants of social patterns. We also conclude that due to their long bio-geographical isolation and divergent selection pressures, future studies of the social systems of the Eupleridae will be of great value for the elucidation of general patterns in carnivore social evolution.

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“…Kilner 2001;Takata et al 2019), increased risk of predation (e.g., Haskell 1994;Redondo and Castro 1992), or increased mortality due to filial infanticide (e.g., Andrews and Smiseth 2013). When begging is costly, offspring should be under selection to maximise their returns on begging (Bell 2008;Madden et al 2009). For instance, in species where both parents provision food for the offspring, and where parents of one sex provision more food than the other, offspring may maximise their returns on begging by begging more towards parents of the sex that provisions the most food, as reported in studies on birds (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Offspring beg more toward larger females in a burying beetle

2020

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Offspring of many animals beg for food from parents. Begging is often costly, and offspring should seek to reduce such costs to maximize their returns on begging. Whenever multiple adults provide care for a joint brood, as in species where multiple females breed communally, offspring should beg toward the parent that provisions the most food. Here, we investigate whether larvae spend more time begging toward larger females in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. Prior work on this species shows that larger females provision more food than smaller ones, suggesting that larvae would benefit by preferentially begging toward larger females. To test for such a preference, we provided experimental broods with a simultaneous choice between two dead females: a smaller and a larger one. Larvae spent more time begging toward larger females. We next examined the behavioral mechanism for why larvae begged more toward larger females. Larvae spent more time in close contact with larger females over smaller ones, whereas there was no evidence that larvae begged more when in close contact with larger females. Thus, larvae begged more toward the larger female simply as a consequence of spending more time close to larger females. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of parent–offspring communication by showing that offspring can choose between parents based on parental attributes, such as body size, reflecting how much food parents are likely to provision.

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Do meerkat (Suricata suricatta) pups exhibit strategic begging behaviour and so exploit adults that feed at relatively high rates?

Cited by 11 publications

References 38 publications

Maternal, social and abiotic environmental effects on growth vary across life stages in a cooperative mammal

Maternal, social and abiotic environmental effects on growth vary across life stages in a cooperative mammal

Social systems and life‐history characteristics of mongooses

Offspring beg more toward larger females in a burying beetle

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