Group size and social status affect scent marking in dispersing female meerkats
| العنوان: | Group size and social status affect scent marking in dispersing female meerkats |
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| المؤلفون: | Nino Maag, Gabriele Cozzi, Ana Morales-González, Héctor Ruiz-Villar, Arpat Ozgul |
| المساهمون: | University of Zurich, Ridley, Amanda, Maag, Nino |
| المصدر: | Behavioral Ecology |
| مصطلحات موضوعية: | 0106 biological sciences, Evolution, media_common.quotation_subject, Foraging, Zoology, Biology, Affect (psychology), 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Urination, 10127 Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Behavior and Systematics, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology, Animal species, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, media_common, Ecology, Food availability, 05 social sciences, 1105 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, 570 Life sciences, biology, 590 Animals (Zoology), Biological dispersal, Defecation, Animal Science and Zoology, 1103 Animal Science and Zoology, Social status |
| الوصف: | Many animal species use scent marks such as feces, urine, and glandular secretions to find mates, advertise their reproductive status, and defend an exclusive territory. Scent marking may be particularly important during dispersal, when individuals emigrate from their natal territory searching for mates and a new territory to settle and reproduce. In this study, we investigated the scent-marking behavior of 30 dispersing female meerkats (Suricata suricatta) during the three consecutive stages of dispersal—emigration, transience, and settlement. We expected marking patterns to differ between dispersal stages, depending on social circumstances such as presence of unrelated mates and social status of the individuals within each dispersing coalition and also to be influenced by water and food availability. We showed that defecation probability increased with group size during the settlement stage, when newly formed groups are expected to signal their presence to other resident groups. Urination probability was higher in subordinate than in dominant individuals during each of the three dispersal stages and it decreased overall as the dispersal process progressed. Urine may, thus, be linked to advertisement of the social status within a coalition. Anal marking probability did not change across dispersal stages but increased with the presence of unrelated males and was higher in dominants than in subordinates. We did not detect any effect of rain or foraging success on defecation and urination probability. Our results suggest that feces, urine, and anal markings serve different communication purposes (e.g., within and between-group communication) during the dispersal process. |
| اللغة: | English |
| تدمد: | 1465-7279 1045-2249 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/beheco/arz124 |
| URL الوصول: | https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_dedup___::6455707b99d3ad7a960887a1117967be |
| Rights: | OPEN |
| رقم الانضمام: | edsair.doi.dedup.....6455707b99d3ad7a960887a1117967be |
| قاعدة البيانات: | OpenAIRE |
| تدمد: | 14657279 10452249 |
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| DOI: | 10.1093/beheco/arz124 |