No evidence for punishment in communally nursing female house mice (Mus musculus domesticus).

ABSTRACT: Punishment is claimed as an important mechanism to stabilise costly cooperation in humans, but its importance in social animals has been questioned recently due to both conceptual considerations and a lack of empirical evidence (only few published studies). We empirically tested whether there is evidence for punishment in communally nursing house mice (Mus musculus domesticus, direct descendants of "wild" animals). Communally breeding females pool their litters and raise all offspring together, indiscriminately caring for own and other offspring. Such a situation resembles a public good and provides scope for exploitation if females vary in their relative contributions to the joint nest (offspring number). We allowed two females to communally breed and conducted removal experiments both in

SUBMITTER: Ferrari M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5480973 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature