Kin Discrimination and the Benefit of Helping in Cooperatively Breeding Vertebrates

A. S. Griffin

doi:10.1126/science.1089402

Kin discrimination via odour in the cooperatively breeding banded mongoose

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.171798 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 171798 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

J. Mitchell ◽

S. Kyabulima ◽

R. Businge ◽

M. A. Cant ◽

H. J. Nichols

Keyword(s):

Genetic Relatedness ◽

Wild Population ◽

Kin Recognition ◽

Group Living ◽

Olfactory Cues ◽

Kin Discrimination ◽

Phenotype Matching ◽

Cooperatively Breeding ◽

Banded Mongoose ◽

Mungos Mungo

Kin discrimination is often beneficial for group-living animals as it aids in inbreeding avoidance and providing nepotistic help. In mammals, the use of olfactory cues in kin discrimination is widespread and may occur through learning the scents of individuals that are likely to be relatives, or by assessing genetic relatedness directly through assessing odour similarity (phenotype matching). We use scent presentations to investigate these possibilities in a wild population of the banded mongoose Mungos mungo , a cooperative breeder in which inbreeding risk is high and females breed communally, disrupting behavioural cues to kinship. We find that adults show heightened behavioural responses to unfamiliar (extra-group) scents than to familiar (within-group) scents. Interestingly, we found that responses to familiar odours, but not unfamiliar odours, varied with relatedness. This suggests that banded mongooses are either able to use an effective behavioural rule to identify likely relatives from within their group, or that phenotype matching is used in the context of within-group kin recognition but not extra-group kin recognition. In other cooperative breeders, familiarity is used within the group and phenotype matching may be used to identify unfamiliar kin. However, for the banded mongoose this pattern may be reversed, most likely due to their unusual breeding system which disrupts within-group behavioural cues to kinship.

Download Full-text

Routes to indirect fitness in cooperatively breeding vertebrates: kin discrimination and limited dispersal

Journal of Evolutionary Biology ◽

10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01853.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 22 (12) ◽

pp. 2445-2457 ◽

Cited By ~ 100

Author(s):

C. K. CORNWALLIS ◽

S. A. WEST ◽

A. S. GRIFFIN

Keyword(s):

Kin Discrimination ◽

Cooperatively Breeding ◽

Limited Dispersal ◽

Indirect Fitness

Download Full-text

Kin discrimination in cooperatively breeding long–tailed tits

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2001.1598 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 268 (1470) ◽

pp. 885-890 ◽

Cited By ~ 70

Author(s):

B. J. Hatchwell ◽

D. J. Ross ◽

M. K. Fowlie ◽

A. McGowan

Keyword(s):

Kin Discrimination ◽

Cooperatively Breeding

Download Full-text

Odour-based kin discrimination in the cooperatively breeding meerkat

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2012.1054 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 20121054 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Sarah Leclaire ◽

Johanna F. Nielsen ◽

Nathan K. Thavarajah ◽

Marta Manser ◽

Tim H. Clutton-Brock

Keyword(s):

Kin Recognition ◽

Kin Discrimination ◽

Anal Gland Secretion ◽

Phenotype Matching ◽

Kin Competition ◽

Suricata Suricatta ◽

Starting Point ◽

Cooperatively Breeding ◽

Matching Mechanism ◽

Close Relatives

Kin recognition is a useful ability for animals, facilitating cooperation among relatives and avoidance of excessive kin competition or inbreeding. In meerkats, Suricata suricatta, encounters between unfamiliar kin are relatively frequent, and kin recognition by phenotype matching is expected to avoid inbreeding with close relatives. Here, we investigate whether female meerkats are able to discriminate the scent of unfamiliar kin from unfamiliar non-kin. Dominant females were presented with anal gland secretion from unfamiliar individuals that varied in their relatedness. Our result indicates that females spent more time investigating the scent of related than unrelated unfamiliar individuals, suggesting that females may use a phenotype matching mechanism (or recognition alleles) to discriminate the odour of their kin from the odour of their non-kin. Our study provides a key starting point for further investigations into the use of kin recognition for inbreeding avoidance in the widely studied meerkat.

Download Full-text