Father and son sugar gliders: more than a genetic coalition?

Klettenheimer, B. S.; Temple-Smith, Peter; Sofronidis, George

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1997.tb05823.x

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Mothers care for other than their own offspring in only a few species. In the medium-sized gliders, male group members provide care by protecting the den, and huddling and grooming the young at least in captivity [42]. Similar paternal care is likely to exist in other species living in small family groups or harems.…”

Section: Boxmentioning

confidence: 98%

Energetic trade‐offs between brain size and offspring production: Marsupials confirm a general mammalian pattern

Isler

2011

BioEssays

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Recently, Weisbecker and Goswami presented the first comprehensive comparative analysis of brain size, metabolic rate, and development periods in marsupial mammals. In this paper, a strictly energetic perspective is applied to identify general mammalian correlates of brain size evolution. In both marsupials and placentals, the duration or intensity of maternal investment is a key correlate of relative brain size, but here I show that allomaternal energy subsidies may also play a role. In marsupials, an energetic constraint on brain size in adults is only revealed if we consider both metabolic and reproductive rates simultaneously, because a strong trade-off between encephalization and offspring production masks the positive correlation between basal metabolic rate and brain size in a bivariate comparison. In conclusion, starting from an energetic perspective is warranted to elucidate relations between ecology, social systems, life history, and brain size in all mammals.

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Section: Boxmentioning

confidence: 98%

Energetic trade‐offs between brain size and offspring production: Marsupials confirm a general mammalian pattern

Isler

2011

BioEssays

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“…It seems odd, therefore, that recent research has revealed the potential for a complex, hierarchical social system in male sugar gliders (Klettenheimer, 1994;Mallick et al, 1994;Bradley & Stoddart, 1997;Klettenheimer, Temple-Smith & Sofronidis, 1997). Work carried out on captive sugar gliders has shown that groups established with a malebiased sex ratio formed male dominance hierarchies, the most dominant male possessing the highest testosterone levels and the greatest body weight .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Furthermore, Klettenheimer et al (1997) observed that the son of the dominant male acquired codominance in his natal group. The young male rose in status above older and heavier males in the group and formed what was considered a coalition with his father, the two males tolerating one another in a position of codominance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Coalitions in male sugar gliders: are they natural?

Sadler

Ward

1999

Journal of Zoology

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The sugar glider Petaurus breviceps is generally considered to be a polygynous, group-nesting species. However, recent captive studies have indicated that dominance hierarchies and shared codominance amongst males formed when males were housed in multiple-male, multiple-female cages with male-biased sex ratios. This study uses data from sugar glider groups in natural populations to assess the probability of male dominance hierarchies and the opportunity for codominant father±son coalitions. Nesting groups of sugar gliders were found to have female-biased sex ratios ranging from 1:1.5 to 1:2.7 males:females. The dispersing sex was male ± there were four records of recruitment into the natal group, all of which were female. Only one example was found of a long-term adult male association between a father and putative son, which did not occur in the natal group of the son. The evidence suggests that though father±son associations may occur, the opportunities for male dominance hierarchies or male coalitions are rare in sugar glider nesting groups in the natural environment.

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“…The Australian sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps Waterhouse 1839) is a small marsupial that commonly nests in groups that are often formed by related individuals (Klettenheimer et al, 1997). It increases group size during the winter period and can undergo daily torpor during adverse conditions (Körtner and Geiser, 2000;Christian and Geiser, 2007;Nowack et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Friends with benefits: the role of huddling in mixed groups of torpid and normothermic animals

Nowack

Geiser

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Huddling and torpor are widely used for minimizing heat loss by mammals. Despite the questionable energetic benefits from social heterothermy of mixed groups of warm normothermic and cold torpid individuals, the heterothermic Australian sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) rests in such groups during the cold season. To unravel why they might do so, we examined torpor expression of two sugar glider groups of four individuals each in outside enclosures during winter. We observed 79 torpor bouts during 50 days of observation and found that torpor bouts were longer and deeper when all individuals of a group entered torpor together, and therefore infer that they would have saved more energy in comparison to short and shallow solitary torpor bouts. However, all gliders of either group only expressed torpor uniformly in response to food restriction, whereas on most occasions at least one individual per group remained normothermic. Nevertheless, the presence of warm gliders in mixed groups also appears to be of energetic advantage for torpid individuals, because nest box temperature was negatively correlated with the number of torpid gliders, and normothermic individuals kept the nest temperature at a value closer to the threshold for thermoregulatory heat production during torpor. Our study suggests that mixed groups of torpid and normothermic individuals are observed when environmental conditions are adverse but food is available, leading to intermediate energy savings from torpor. However, under especially challenging conditions and when animals are starving, energy savings are maximized by uniform and pronounced expression of torpor.

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Father and son sugar gliders: more than a genetic coalition?

Cited by 15 publications

References 23 publications

Energetic trade‐offs between brain size and offspring production: Marsupials confirm a general mammalian pattern

Energetic trade‐offs between brain size and offspring production: Marsupials confirm a general mammalian pattern

Coalitions in male sugar gliders: are they natural?

Friends with benefits: the role of huddling in mixed groups of torpid and normothermic animals

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