Strength in numbers: males in a carnivore grow bigger when they associate and hunt cooperatively
Strength in numbers: males in a carnivore grow bigger when they associate and hunt cooperatively
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DOI：
10.1093/beheco/ars150
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发表时间：
2013
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
M. Lührs;Melanie Dammhahn;P. Kappeler
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
M. Lührs;Melanie Dammhahn;P. Kappeler
群居生活已被认为是进化的主要转变之一。在哺乳动物中，雄性群居和雌性独居是很罕见的，但它可以为社会和合作的进化提供独特的见解。由于雄性会为了争夺雌性而相互竞争，哺乳动物中的雄性合作被解释为雌性会共同防御其他雄性。在这里，我们证明了雄性合作狩猎的好处可以在塑造社会性方面发挥重要作用。通过量化形态、活动、饮食和交配成功率的差异，我们发现在马达加斯加的顶级捕食者fosa （Cryptoprocta ferox）中，一些雄性会联合捕猎大型猎物，这使得它们比单独的雄性和雌性都长得更大。这些相关的雄性身体优势也代表了雌性在竞争中的优势，这反映在更高的交配成功率上。我们的研究结果表明，通过合作狩猎来增加获得食物资源的机会是fosa身体发育和竞争力的关键。与之前的研究结果相反，我们发现雄性的社会性一定不局限于共同防御领土和雌性，但在两性异形物种中，食物获取的合作可以促进社会性。
Group-living has been recognized as one of the major transitions in evolution. Male sociality along with solitary females is rare in mammals, but it can provide unique insights into the evolution of sociality and cooperation. Because males compete with each other over females, male cooperation in mammals has been explained by joint defense of females against other males. Here, we demonstrate that the benefits of male cooperative hunting can play a major role in shaping sociality. By quantifying differences in morphology, activity, diet, and mating success, we show that in Madagascar’s top predator, the fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox), some males associate to jointly hunt large prey, which allows them to grow bigger than both solitary males and females. These associated males’ physical superiority also represents an advantage in contest competition for females, as reflected by higher mating success. Our results demonstrate that enhanced access to food resources by cooperative hunting is a key to physical development and competitiveness in fosas. In contrast to previous findings, we show that male sociality must not be limited to joint defense of territory and females, but that cooperation in food acquisition can favor sociality in sexually dimorphic species.