Social Organization of African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) on the Serengeti Plains, Tanzania 1967-19781

Frame, Lory Herbison; Malcolm, James; Frame, George W.; Lawick, Hugo van

doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1979.tb01030.x

Cited by 257 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Frequent adult mortalities led to a prevalence of packs with only a single female, with multiple adult females occurring during only about one third of all pack breeding years. This was not surprising given the findings of others (Frame et al 1979;Reich 1981;Creel and Creel 2002) who have noted progressively increasing male bias in older age classes. In the KZN population, generally, males had more contemporaries than females in a breeding pack and, thus, more competitors that decreased the chance of securing dominance after the death of an alpha male.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…The alpha male and female in a given pack were recognized on the basis of: (1) reciprocal male and female scentmarking behavior (Frame et al 1979); (2) obvious co-incidental male and female movement; and (3) mutual offensive and defensive maneuvers in agonistic encounters with other adult pack members (Girman et al 1997). The dominance hierarchy was also inferred from gestures of subordination, including laying the ears flat against the head and/or rotating the head away from a higher ranking individual (van Lawick 1970) as well as passive submission that included a subordinate rolling onto its back in the presence of a more dominant dog (Schenkel 1967).…”

Section: Determining Dominancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…After a birth (usually once per year in a given pack), all group members cooperate in provisioning the lactating female in the den and feeding/ protecting pups after emerging from underground (Malcolm and Marten 1982;Creel and Creel 2002). After 1 year of age, offspring disperse as far as 250 km from the natal pack territory in single-sex, sibling groups (Fuller et al 1992) in search of opportunities to join other dispersers or an already established group (Frame et al 1979). Once a new breeding pack forms, a clear social dominance hierarchy develops within each gender, with reproductively "prime", middleaged males and the oldest female usually holding dominant positions (Creel and Creel 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reproductive sharing and proximate factors mediating cooperative breeding in the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus)

Spiering

Somers

Maldonado

et al. 2009

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Although dominant African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are generally believed to be the sole breeders within a pack, earlier behavioral and endocrine data suggest that reproduction could be shared with subordinates. We performed an extensive behavioral, demographic, and genetic evaluation of a wild dog population in South Africa to examine the level of such sharing and the proximate mechanisms influencing reproductive contributions of each sex. While a majority of pups were born to dominants because of a lack of subordinate potential breeders, we discovered a substantial portion of reproductive sharing between dominants and subordinates. Compared with alpha females that mated annually, subordinate beta females bred in 54.5% of years whereas thetas never bred. The three topranking males all sired pups (56.0%, 32.0%, and 12.0%, respectively) when three or more adult males were present. With only two pack males, alpha and beta individuals shared reproduction nearly equally (55.2% and 44.8%, respectively), and litters of mixed paternity were discovered on eight of 15 (53.3%) occasions. A skewed adult sex-ratio and frequent alpha mortalities for females and behavioral aggression in males allowed most individuals to attain dominant status in their lifetime, creating a constantly shifting social hierarchy. Genetic parentage results corresponded to reported hormone profiles, suggesting physiological suppression in some lower-ranked individuals of both sexes. Thus, a combination of demographic, behavioral, and hormonal proximate factors mediates reproductive partitioning in wild dogs. We conclude that reproductive sharing can be significant in this species, especially for males that have less robust suppressive mechanisms than females.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Determining Dominancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reproductive sharing and proximate factors mediating cooperative breeding in the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus)

Spiering

Somers

Maldonado

et al. 2009

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…In wild dogs, the sexes play similar roles in hunting, defence, and rearing of offspring Frame et al, 1979;Malcom and Marten, 1982), suggesting that the effect of sex on FCM values is most likely the result of differences in physiology (Tilbrook et al, 2000;Touma and Palme, 2005) rather than behaviour. Interestingly, in contrast to the reports by Creel et al (1997a), we did not find any effect of social status on FCM values in either males or females, as also reported by de Villiers et al (1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reproduction is typically restricted to the dominant pair who maintain their dominance through displays of aggression associated with submission by subordinates (Creel et al, 1997a;Frame et al, 1979). In previous studies, dominant individuals were found to have higher faecal GC concentrations than subordinates throughout the year (Creel et al, 1997a), an observation that was initially counter-intuitive and led to the suggestion that GCs are not mediators of reproductive suppression (Barja et al, 2008;Creel, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Monitoring stress in captive and free-ranging African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) using faecal glucocorticoid metabolites

Weyde

Martin

Paris

2016

General and Comparative Endocrinology

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An understanding of stress physiology is important for species management because high levels of stress can hamper reproduction and affect an individual's ability to cope with threats to their survival, such as disease and human-wildlife conflict. A commonly used indicator of stress, faecal concentrations of cortisol metabolites (FCM), can be used to assess the impact of social, biological and environmental factors. Measurements of FCM are particularly valuable for endangered species that are logistically challenging to study and where non-invasive techniques are preferred. As the second most endangered canid in Africa, the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) has been the focus of considerable conservation research, yet there is still little understanding of factors associated with stress, in either captive or free-ranging populations. The present study therefore aimed to determine whether stress levels differ between captive and free-ranging populations, and to detect social, biological and environmental factors that are stressful in these populations. Faecal samples were collected from 20 captive and 62 free-ranging animals. Within free-ranging populations, the sexes differed significantly, but there was no effect of social status, age or breeding period for either sex.Captive females had higher FCM concentrations than free-ranging females. In captive populations, FCM concentrations differed among zoos and with reproductive status in females, but were not related to age class or group-housing structure. In conclusion, FCM is a useful indicator of stress and should be considered an integrative aspect of management, for both in-situ and ex-situ African wild dog populations.

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Familial influences on ovulatory function in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

1997

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Previous studies have indicated that many, but not all, female common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) housed with their natal families undergo social suppression of ovulation. In this study, we further characterized ovulatory activity in common marmoset daughters to determine the prevalence of social suppression of ovulation and to elucidate familial influences on daughters' ovarian activity. Blood samples were collected twice weekly from each of 46 daughters for 5–12 months, usually beginning when the daughters were 12 months of age. Plasma progesterone concentrations indicated that 46.3% of daughters in intact natal families ovulated at least once, with the age at first ovulation averaging 17.2 months; however, none of these daughters became pregnant. Daughters' ovulatory cycles showed several significant differences from those of older females housed with unrelated adults, including longer periods between successive luteal phases, shorter luteal phases, and lower peak and mean luteal‐phase progesterone levels. Daughters were significantly more likely to ovulate in families in which the mother was experimentally prevented from sustaining pregnancies, and in families in which the father had been replaced by an unrelated adult male and when the daughter was approximately 10–11 months of age. Daughters in families containing an older sister never ovulated; in contrast, those with a female littermate were not less likely to ovulate than were other daughters, but had more sporadic ovarian cycles and significantly lower mean luteal‐phase progesterone levels. These results confirm and extend previous findings that up to half of female common marmosets may ovulate while housed with the natal family but that virtually none sustain pregnancies, suggesting that suppression of ovulation is only one of several components of reproductive failure. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that daughters' likelihood of ovulating, as well as the endocrine profiles of their ovulatory cycles, can be modulated by numerous social influences within the family. Am. J. Primatol. 41:159–177, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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Social Organization of African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) on the Serengeti Plains, Tanzania 1967-19781

Cited by 257 publications

References 13 publications

Reproductive sharing and proximate factors mediating cooperative breeding in the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus)

Reproductive sharing and proximate factors mediating cooperative breeding in the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus)

Monitoring stress in captive and free-ranging African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) using faecal glucocorticoid metabolites

Familial influences on ovulatory function in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

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