Selfish mothers indeed! Resource-dependent conflict over extended parental care in free-ranging dogs.

ABSTRACT: Parent-offspring conflict (POC) theory provides an interesting premise for understanding social dynamics in facultatively social species. In free-ranging dogs, mothers increase conflict over extended parental care with their pups beyond the weaning stage. In this study, we investigated whether resource quality affects POC in the dogs that typically live in a highly competitive environment as scavengers. We built a theoretical model to predict the alternative options available to the mother in the context of food sharing with her pups when protein-rich food (meat) is provided, as compared to carbohydrate-rich food (biscuits). We fit the mothers' response from experimental data to the model and show that the mothers choose a selfish strategy, which can in turn ensure higher lifetime reproduc

SUBMITTER: Paul M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4807463 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature