Selfish Sentinels in Cooperative Mammals

Like humans engaged in risky activities, group members of some animal societies take turns acting as sentinels. Explanations of the evolution of sentinel behavior have frequently relied on kin selection or reciprocal altruism, but recent models suggest that guarding may be an individual's optim...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1999-06, Vol.284 (5420), p.1640-1644
Main Authors: Clutton-Brock, T. H., O'Riain, M. J., Brotherton, P. N. M., Gaynor, D., Kansky, R., Griffin, A. S., Manser, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Altruism
Animal behavior
Animal ethology
Animal social behavior
Animal societies
Animals
Attrition (Research Studies)
Behavior
Behavior, Animal
Biological and medical sciences
Cooperative Behavior
Eggs
Feeding Behavior
Female
Female animals
Foraging
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Group size
Herpestidae
Kin selection
Male
Mammalia
Mammals
Meerkat
Meerkats
Nutrition
Nutritional Status
Predation
Predators
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Rank tests
Research Article
Social behavior in animals
Statistical median
Suricata suricatta
Vertebrata
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Like humans engaged in risky activities, group members of some animal societies take turns acting as sentinels. Explanations of the evolution of sentinel behavior have frequently relied on kin selection or reciprocal altruism, but recent models suggest that guarding may be an individual's optimal activity once its stomach is full if no other animal is on guard. This paper provides support for this last explanation by showing that, in groups of meerkats (Suricata suricatta), animals guard from safe sites, and solitary individuals as well as group members spend part of their time on guard. Though individuals seldom take successive guarding bouts, there is no regular rota, and the provision of food increases contributions to guarding and reduces the latency between bouts by the same individual.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.284.5420.1640