Dominant female meerkats use aggression to keep subordinates from breeding, but a new study finds this negative behavior also can result in the latter becoming less willing to help within the group.
Dominant female meerkats use aggression to keep subordinates from breeding, but a new study finds this negative behavior also can result in the latter becoming less willing to help within the group.
A longstanding hypothesis proposes that subordinates stressed out by coercion or aggression from the socially dominant breeders can cause them to be unable to reproduce on their own. However, in cooperatively breeding mammals in which dominant breeders produce all or most of the offspring, the aggressive behavior may backfire: Subordinates that are stressed may also exhibit less helping behavior.
Subordinates typically help raise pups by guarding and feeding them, and alerting pups and other group members about predators
By studying the behavior of meerkats, which live in groups with up to 50 individuals, researchers learn more about the social cooperation among other species, such as humans, said the study’s lead author Ben Dantzer, assistant professor of psychology and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan.
Continue reading at University of Michigan.
Image via University of Michigan.
