Family values: group dynamics and social control of reproduction in African mole-rats

To exploit ecological niches where constraints have favoured selection for group living and cooperation, both vertebrates and invertebrates have evolved elaborate social systems. In mammals, numerous divergent taxa have converged at similar solutions to these ecological challenges (such as food dist...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in Ecology & Evolution 2001-04, Vol.16 (4), p.184-190
Main Authors: Faulkes, Chris G., Bennett, Nigel C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African mole-rats
Animal ethology
Bathyergidae
Biological and medical sciences
Callithrichidae
dispersal
dominant control
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Heterocephalus glaber
incest avoidance
Mammalia
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
reproductive skew
reproductive suppression
Vertebrata
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Summary:To exploit ecological niches where constraints have favoured selection for group living and cooperation, both vertebrates and invertebrates have evolved elaborate social systems. In mammals, numerous divergent taxa have converged at similar solutions to these ecological challenges (such as food distribution and predator avoidance), culminating in the social insect-like behaviour of the naked mole-rat. Characteristically, breeding is partitioned unequally in such groups, resulting in a ‘reproductive skew’. New research linking studies of physiology, behaviour and molecular ecology in African mole-rats is helping us to elucidate why different proximate mechanisms that control groups of cooperative breeders might have evolved.
ISSN:0169-5347
1872-8383
DOI:10.1016/S0169-5347(01)02116-4