Proteles cristatus

Koehler, C. E.; Richardson, P. R. K.

doi:10.2307/3504197

Cited by 41 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…This is the first study to present reproductive hormone data for wild aardwolves. Our results support previous observations of the aardwolf as a strictly seasonal breeder (Koehler and Richardson, 1990;Marneweck et al, 2012;Richardson 1987;Sliwa, 1996) with seasonal fluctuations in fA concentrations in males and two observed litters during the wet season. However, although progestagen production also varied between seasons in females, fE concentrations were not consistently elevated during the dry season, which contains the mating activity.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Our data instead showed that both male and female aardwolves scent marked more during the wet season and that neither sex concentrated their scent marks at the border of their ranges. The wet season is a period of intense offspring dependency at natal dens (Koehler and Richardson, 1990). We therefore suggest that scent marking may function as a way of protecting the territory from intruders to secure enough food resources to successfully raise offspring.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We defined scent marking as the action of an aardwolf straddling a grass stalk, rapidly squatting and wiping a smear of secretion onto the grass from the anal pouch (Richardson, 1985;Sliwa, 1996;Sliwa and Richardson, 1998). We defined foraging behaviour as the action of an aardwolf lowering its head to ground level and proceeding to lick traveling termites off the soil or mound surface into its mouth (Koehler and Richardson, 1990). In total, we recorded 269 spatial movement tracks and 157 behavioural sessions for the seven collared aardwolves (Table 1).…”

Section: Spatial and Behavioural Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aardwolves have been described as obligately monogamous socially (Koehler and Richardson, 1990;Richardson, 1985), as a result of the necessity for a high level of paternal care caused by the increased need for females to forage away from offspring during lactation (Richardson and Coetzee, 1988). However, aardwolves have been observed to engage in a high frequency of extrapair copulations (Richardson, 1987b;Sliwa, 1996), and Kotze et al (2012) suggested that the temporal utilisation of dens corresponded more closely with predictions from polygamous mating than from social monogamy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) is an extreme resource specialist belonging to the family Hyenidae (De Vries et al, 2011;Koehler and Richardson, 1990;Matsebula et al, 2009). Aardwolves have been described as obligately monogamous socially (Koehler and Richardson, 1990;Richardson, 1985), as a result of the necessity for a high level of paternal care caused by the increased need for females to forage away from offspring during lactation (Richardson and Coetzee, 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Behavioural and endocrine correlates to the aardwolf mating system

et al. 2015

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It is now widely recognized that mating systems contain both social and genetic components, where social components describe patterns of social associations while genetic components reflect patterns of mating activities. In many species these two components do not coincide. If the level of sexual asymmetry differs between these two components, for instance in monogamous pairs with high levels of infidelity, each component may impose different selection pressures on behavioural and physiological characteristics. However, we have limited knowledge of how social and genetic components influence behaviour and physiology. The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) is a small insectivorous hyaenid, which has been described as socially monogamous but sexually promiscuous. In this study, we evaluated if aardwolf space use, scent marking, foraging behaviour and endocrine fluctuations relate to predictions from social monogamy or polygamous mating. Our results did not show sex differences in behaviour or physiology that would be consistent with predictions from polygamous mating, and we suggest that social mate associations may regulate the observed endocrine and behavioural parameters more than actual mating patterns in this species. Such an interpretation would suggest that the fitness effect of promiscuous mating may be low, since it appears to impose little selection pressure on mating related behaviour. We stress that it is then unclear how promiscuous mating is maintained in this socially monogamous species.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Spatial and Behavioural Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Behavioural and endocrine correlates to the aardwolf mating system

et al. 2015

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Morphological diversity of saber‐tooth upper canines and its functional implications

Shelbourne,

Lautenschlager

2024

The Anatomical Record

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Elongated upper canine teeth, commonly known as saber‐teeth, have evolved three times within the sub‐order Feliformia. The species that wielded them flourished throughout the Cenozoic and have historically been separated into two morphological groups: the dirk‐tooths with longer, flatter canines, and the scimitar‐tooths with shorter, serrated teeth. However, quantitative morphological analysis has not been conducted on these teeth to determine the true amount of diversity within the group, and how the upper canine morphology of extant feliforms compared to their extinct relatives has also not been explored. Using Geometric Morphometric analysis, it is shown that saber‐tooth upper canine morphology is exceptionally diverse, with no extant clade having all its members occupy the same morphospace based on tooth length and curvature. Instead, a neutral basal morphospace is observed for all groups and diversification from this basal position is seen as species become more derived. A distinct and consistent scimitar tooth morphology is also not observed within the morphospace. When compared with extant taxa, several saber‐tooth species are seen to be morphologically similar to extant feliforms, several of which exhibit novel dietary strategies in comparison to the obligate carnivore felids. Biomechanical analyses of different actual and theoretical tooth shapes demonstrate that saber‐teeth upper canines further represent a functional compromise between sharpness, curvature, and length on the one hand, and robustness and material investment on the other.

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Postcranial morphology and the locomotor habits of living and extinct carnivorans

Samuels

Meachen

Sakai

2012

Journal of Morphology

138

256

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Members of the order Carnivora display a broad range of locomotor habits, including cursorial, scansorial, arboreal, semiaquatic, aquatic, and semifossorial species from multiple families. Ecomorphological analyses from osteological measurements have been used successfully in prior studies of carnivorans and rodents to accurately infer the locomotor habits of extinct species. This study uses 20 postcranial measurements that have been shown to be effective indicators of locomotor habits in rodents and incorporates an extensive sample of over 300 individuals from more than 100 living carnivoran species. We performed statistical analyses, including analysis of variance (ANOVA) and stepwise discriminant function analysis, using a set of 16 functional indices (ratios). Our ANOVA results reveal consistent differences in postcranial skeletal morphology among locomotor groups. Cursorial species display distal elongation of the limbs, gracile limb elements, and relatively narrow humeral and femoral epicondyles. Aquatic and semiaquatic species display relatively robust, shortened femora and elongate metatarsals. Semifossorial species display relatively short, robust limbs with enlarged muscular attachment sites and elongate claws. Both semiaquatic and semifossorial species have relatively elongate olecranon process of the ulna and enlarged humeral and femoral epicondyles. Terrestrial, scansorial, and arboreal species are characterized by having primarily intermediate features, but arboreal species do show relatively elongate manual digits. Morphological indices effectively discriminate locomotor groups, with cursorial and arboreal species more accurately classified than terrestrial, scansorial, or semiaquatic species. Both within and between families, species with similar locomotor habits converge toward similar postcranial morphology despite their independent evolutionary histories. The discriminant analysis worked particularly well to correctly classify members of the Canidae, but not as well for members of the Mustelidae or Ursidae. Results are used to infer the locomotor habits of extinct carnivorans, including members of several extinct families, and also 12 species from the Pleistocene of Rancho La Brea.

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Proteles cristatus

Cited by 41 publications

References 0 publications

Behavioural and endocrine correlates to the aardwolf mating system

Behavioural and endocrine correlates to the aardwolf mating system

Morphological diversity of saber‐tooth upper canines and its functional implications

Postcranial morphology and the locomotor habits of living and extinct carnivorans

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