Display options
Cite
Paul M, Majumder SS, Nandi AK, et al. Selfish mothers indeed! Resource-dependent conflict over extended parental care in free-ranging dogs. R Soc Open Sci. 2015;2(12):150580doi: 10.1098/rsos.150580.
Paul, M., Majumder, S. S., Nandi, A. K., & Bhadra, A. (2015). Selfish mothers indeed! Resource-dependent conflict over extended parental care in free-ranging dogs. Royal Society open science, 2(12), 150580. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150580
Paul, Manabi, et al. "Selfish mothers indeed! Resource-dependent conflict over extended parental care in free-ranging dogs." Royal Society open science vol. 2,12 (2015): 150580. doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150580
Paul M, Majumder SS, Nandi AK, Bhadra A. Selfish mothers indeed! Resource-dependent conflict over extended parental care in free-ranging dogs. R Soc Open Sci. 2015 Dec 09;2(12):150580. doi: 10.1098/rsos.150580. eCollection 2015 Dec. PMID: 27019741; PMCID: PMC4807463.
Copy Download .nbib Format: NLM
Share it on

R Soc Open Sci. 2015 Dec 09;2(12):150580. doi: 10.1098/rsos.150580. eCollection 2015 Dec.

Selfish mothers indeed! Resource-dependent conflict over extended parental care in free-ranging dogs.

Royal Society open science

Manabi Paul, Sreejani Sen Majumder, Anjan K Nandi, Anindita Bhadra

Affiliations

  1. Behaviour and Ecology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India.
  2. Department of Physical Sciences Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India.

PMID: 27019741 PMCID: PMC4807463 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150580

Abstract

Parent-offspring conflict (POC) theory provides an interesting premise for understanding social dynamics in facultatively social species. In free-ranging dogs, mothers increase conflict over extended parental care with their pups beyond the weaning stage. In this study, we investigated whether resource quality affects POC in the dogs that typically live in a highly competitive environment as scavengers. We built a theoretical model to predict the alternative options available to the mother in the context of food sharing with her pups when protein-rich food (meat) is provided, as compared to carbohydrate-rich food (biscuits). We fit the mothers' response from experimental data to the model and show that the mothers choose a selfish strategy, which can in turn ensure higher lifetime reproductive success, while depriving the current litter access to better resources. These results have interesting implications for understanding the social dynamics of the dogs, and the emergence of facultative sociality in a species that evolved from strongly social ancestors. We speculate that the tendency of increased conflict in resource-rich conditions might have driven the process of domestication in the ancestors of dogs which defected from their groups in favour of richer resources around human settlements.

Keywords: altruistic; domestication; free-ranging dogs; lifetime reproductive success; parent–offspring conflict; selfish

References

  1. Anim Behav. 2000 Aug;60(2):263-267 - PubMed
  2. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2000 Oct;127(2):225-36 - PubMed
  3. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2002 Mar 29;357(1419):295-307 - PubMed
  4. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2002 Mar 29;357(1419):381-403 - PubMed
  5. Proc Biol Sci. 2012 May 22;279(1735):1927-36 - PubMed
  6. Placenta. 2012 Nov;33 Suppl 2:e11-5 - PubMed
  7. J Physiol. 2012 Nov 1;590(21):5529-40 - PubMed
  8. Ecol Lett. 2013 Mar;16(3):315-22 - PubMed
  9. Nature. 2013 Mar 21;495(7441):360-4 - PubMed
  10. Behav Processes. 2014 Mar;103:17-22 - PubMed
  11. Evolution. 1988 Mar;42(2):351-362 - PubMed
  12. J Nutr. 1966 Jan;88(1):66-74 - PubMed
  13. Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 1993 Dec;60(4):437-43 - PubMed

Publication Types