Staying put or leaving home: endocrine, neuroendocrine and behavioral consequences in male African striped mice
Social flexibility occurs when individuals of both sexes can change their social and reproductive tactics, which in turn can influence the social system of an entire population. However, little is known regarding the extent to which individuals of socially flexible species vary in their social behavior and in the underlying physiological mechanisms that support different […]
Endocrinology of sociality: Comparisons between sociable and solitary individuals within the same population of African striped mice
Abstract The social organization of species ranges from solitary-living to complex social groups. While the evolutionary reasons of group-living are well studied, the physiological mechanisms underlying alternative social systems are poorly understood. By studying group-living and solitary individuals of the same species, we can determine hormonal correlates of sociality without the problem of confounding phylogenetic […]
Factors predicting the frequency, likelihood and duration of allonursing in the cooperatively breeding meerkat
Allolactation, the nursing of another female’s offspring, occurs most commonly where several females raise young simultaneously in the same nest, but also occurs in singular breeders where nonbreeders also lactate for the offspring of dominant females. In this study, we investigated the factors predicting the frequency of allonursing in meerkats, Suricata suricatta, whether or not […]