Kin recognition in golden hamsters: evidence for kinship odours

Todrank, Josephine; Heth, Giora; Johnston, Robert E.

doi:10.1006/anbe.1997.0611

Cited by 87 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Indeed, evidence from field studies applying genetic analyses suggest that mammals, including primates, preferentially associate with paternal half-siblings (e.g. Belding's ground squirrels, Spermophilus beldingi [13,14]; golden hamsters, Mesocricetus auratus [15,16]; spotted hyena [3]; rhesus macaques [17]; savannah baboons, Papio cynocephalus [18,19] and mandrills, Mandrillus sphinx [20]). However, other studies that found no evidence for paternal kin discrimination (chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes [21] and white-faced capuchins, Cebus capuicinus [22]) concluded that paternity cues might not be reliable for kin recognition, but see [5] for discussion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female rhesus macaques discriminate unfamiliar paternal sisters in playback experiments: support for acoustic phenotype matching

2014

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Widespread evidence exists that when relatives live together, kinship plays a central role in shaping the evolution of social behaviour. Previous studies showed that female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) recognize familiar maternal kin using vocal cues. Recognizing paternal kin might, however, be more difficult as rhesus females mate promiscuously during the possible conception period, most probably concealing paternity. Behavioural observations indicate that semi free-ranging female rhesus macaques prefer to associate with their paternal half-sisters in comparison to unrelated females within the same group, particularly when born within the same age cohort. However, the cues and mechanism/s used in paternal kin discrimination remain under debate. Here, we investigated whether female rhesus macaques use the acoustic modality to discriminate between paternal halfsisters and non-kin, and tested familiarity and phenotype matching as the underlying mechanisms. We found that test females responded more often to calls of paternal half-sisters compared with calls of unrelated females, and that this discrimination ability was independent of the level of familiarity between callers and test females, which provides, to our knowledge, the first evidence for acoustic phenotype matching. Our study strengthens the evidence that female rhesus macaques can recognize their paternal kin, and that vocalizations are used as a cue.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female rhesus macaques discriminate unfamiliar paternal sisters in playback experiments: support for acoustic phenotype matching

2014

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“…Chemoreception is ubiquitous among animals and is used for diverse purposes, including foraging (Nevitt et al, 1995;Derby et al, 2001;Clark, 2004), predator detection (Dielenberg and McGregor, 2001;Lukowiak et al, 2008), kin recognition (Todrank et al, 1998;Mateo, 2003), communication (Waldman and Bishop, 2004) and navigation (Hasler et al, 1978;Vickers, 2000;Lohmann et al, 2008a). Chemical cues may be particularly important to aquatic species, which often inhabit environments where visibility is poor and the availability of other sensory cues is limited (Wisenden, 2000;Lohmann et al, 2008a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of airborne odors by loggerhead sea turtles

Endres

Putman

Lohmann

2009

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYSea turtles are known to detect chemical cues, but in contrast to most marine animals, turtles surface to breathe and thus potentially have access to olfactory cues both in air and in water. To determine whether sea turtles can detect airborne chemical cues, captive loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) were placed into a circular, water-filled arena in which odorants could be introduced to the air above the water surface. Air that had passed across the surface of a cup containing food elicited increased activity, diving and other behavior normally associated with feeding. By contrast, air that had passed across the surface of an identical cup containing distilled water elicited no response. Increases in activity during food odor trials occurred only after turtles surfaced to breathe and peaked in the first post-breath minute, implying that the chemical cues eliciting the responses were unlikely to have been detected while the turtles were under water. These results provide the first direct evidence that sea turtles can detect airborne odors. Under natural conditions, this sensory ability might function in foraging, navigation or both.

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“…Evidence of kin discrimination has been reported for a variety of vertebrate species, e.g., Cascades frog tadpoles, Rana cascadae (8), long-tailed tits, Aegithalos caudatus (9), house mice, Mus musculus (10), white-footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus (11), spiny mice, Acomys cahirinus (12), Belding's ground squirrels, Spermophilus beldingi (3,13), beavers, Castor canadensis (14), golden hamsters, Mesocricetus auratus (15), and chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes (16). Although most studies of kin recognition have focused on the discrimination of kin versus nonkin, only a few have been able to distinguish paternal half-siblings from nonkin, e.g., Belding's ground squirrels (17), peacocks, Pavo cristatus (18), and savanna baboons, Papio cynocephalus (19).…”

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confidence: 99%

Paternal relatedness and age proximity regulate social relationships among adult female rhesus macaques

Widdig

Nürnberg

Krawczak

et al. 2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

222

220

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Kin selection promotes the evolution of social behavior that increases the survival and reproductive success of close relatives. Among primates, maternal kinship frequently coincides with a higher frequency of grooming and agonistic aiding, but the extent to which paternal kinship influences adult female social relationships has not yet been investigated. Here, we examine the effect of both maternal and paternal kinship, as well as age proximity, on affiliative interactions among semifree-ranging adult female rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta. Kinship was assessed by using both microsatellites and DNA-fingerprinting. Our study confirms that the closest affiliative relationships characterize maternal half-sisters. We provide evidence that adult females are significantly more affiliative with paternal half-sisters than with nonkin. Furthermore, paternal kin discrimination was more pronounced among peers than among nonpeers, indicating that age proximity has an additional regulatory effect on affiliative interactions. We propose that kin discrimination among cercopithecine primates emerges from ontogenetic processes that involve phenotype matching based on shared behavioral traits, such as inherited personality profiles, rather than physiological or physical characteristics. Kin selection promotes the evolution of social behavior that increases the survival and reproductive success of close relatives (1, 2). Hamilton (ref. 1, p. 22) proposed that one possible mechanism mediating kin selection could be ''familiarity of appearance. . . being [that] relatives must tend to look alike. . . ''. Kin discrimination can arise if individuals classify relatives on the basis of shared family traits (3, 4), i.e., phenotype matching, or if individuals identify relatives on the basis of frequent association patterns (5, 6), i.e., familiarity, but whether these two mechanisms are mutually exclusive or overlapping is unclear (7).Evidence of kin discrimination has been reported for a variety of vertebrate species, e.g., Cascades frog tadpoles, Rana cascadae (8), long-tailed tits, Aegithalos caudatus (9), house mice, Mus musculus (10), white-footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus (11), spiny mice, Acomys cahirinus (12), Belding's ground squirrels, Spermophilus beldingi (3, 13), beavers, Castor canadensis (14), golden hamsters, Mesocricetus auratus (15), and chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes (16). Although most studies of kin recognition have focused on the discrimination of kin versus nonkin, only a few have been able to distinguish paternal half-siblings from nonkin, e.g., Belding's ground squirrels (17), peacocks, Pavo cristatus (18), and savanna baboons, Papio cynocephalus (19). Although Wu et al. (20) concluded that pigtailed macaques, Macaca nemestrina, exhibit kin recognition in the absence of familiarity, based on their finding that unfamiliar juvenile peers prefer to sit closer to their paternal half-siblings than to nonkin, all subsequent studies of cercopithecine primates have failed to replicate the original findings (21-24), which ...

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Kin recognition in golden hamsters: evidence for kinship odours

Cited by 87 publications

References 33 publications

Female rhesus macaques discriminate unfamiliar paternal sisters in playback experiments: support for acoustic phenotype matching

Female rhesus macaques discriminate unfamiliar paternal sisters in playback experiments: support for acoustic phenotype matching

Perception of airborne odors by loggerhead sea turtles

Paternal relatedness and age proximity regulate social relationships among adult female rhesus macaques

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