Stress and the suppression of subordinate reproduction in cooperatively breeding meerkats.

ABSTRACT: In many animal societies, dominant individuals monopolize reproduction, but the tactics they employ to achieve this are poorly understood. One possibility is that aggressive dominants render their subordinates infertile by inducing chronic physiological "stress." However, this hypothesis has been discarded largely for cooperatively breeding species, where reproductive monopolies are often extreme. Here we provide strong support for the stress-related suppression hypothesis in a cooperative mammal, the meerkat (Suricata suricatta). When pregnant, dominant females subject some subordinate females to escalating aggression, culminating in temporary evictions from the group. While evicted, subordinate females suffer chronic elevation of their glucocorticoid adrenal hormone levels, reproductive

SUBMITTER: Young AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1567688 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature