Does kin selection influence fostering behaviour in Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella)?

Abstract

A recent observation that female Antarctic fur seals foster pups born to related females raises the fascinating possibility that kin selection may promote altruistic behaviour even on a crowded breeding beach, where individual interactions are frequent and complex. However, the use of genetic markers to identify small numbers of unusually highly related individuals is fraught with difficulty due to the likely presence of genotyping errors and related problems. Consequently, we examined an enlarged dataset where errors had been reduced to an absolute minimum by a combination of close scrutiny and repeat genotyping. We find no support for the idea that females preferentially suckle pups born to female relatives. Instead, the previously reported pattern can be explained by a combination of genotyping errors and de novo mutations. Our study emphasizes the need for caution when interpreting rare events that occur at a rate approaching that expected for normal genotyping errors.

Chemical fingerprints encode mother–offspring similarity, colony membership, relatedness, and genetic quality in fur seals

“…Interestingly, allosuckling rates vary considerably among pinniped species, from 6% in New Zealand sea lions to up to 90% in Hawaiian monk seals, suggesting that mother-pup recognition abilities may vary among species (28). The Antarctic fur seal has one of the lowest observed rates of allosuckling (29), which is consistent with the strong pattern of chemical similarity we find between mothers and their pups.…”

Cross-Amplification and Validation of SNPs Conserved over 44 Million Years between Seals and Dogs

“…This was recently done for the Antarctic fur seal ( Arctocephalus gazella ), a sexually dimorphic pinniped that has been intensively studied for several decades at Bird Island, South Georgia. To improve genetic resolution for ongoing studies of reproductive success [16], mate choice [17] and heterozygosity-fitness correlations [18]–[21], we constructed a transcriptome assembly from non-destructively obtained skin biopsy samples [22]. Homology to the dog ( Canis lupus familiaris ) genome was then exploited to map transcripts to specific chromosomes, allowing development of a genome-wide distributed panel of 104 polymorphic SNPs [23].…”

Chemical fingerprints reveal clues to identity, heterozygosity, and relatedness

“…Although observations of potentially altruistic female behavior toward pups, such as allosuckling, are low in Antarctic fur seals (13), the ability to recognize kin and associate with related individuals potentially allows for weakly selected cooperative behaviors to evolve. Wolf and Trillmich (14) Fig.…”