Laboratory and field evidence of paternal care in the Algerian mouse (Mus spretus) |
| |
Authors: | Jacques Cassaing Stephanie Cervera Florence Isaac |
| |
Institution: | 1. Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, UMR 5554, Université Montpellier II, Cc 064, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
|
| |
Abstract: | Paternal care is generally, although not exclusively, associated with monogamy in mammals. The Algerian mouse, Mus spretus, is a nocturnal murid living in xeric habitats in northern Africa, the Iberian peninsula and the south of France. We compared
the amount of paternal care induced by removing young in Mus spretus and in the polygamous house mouse M. musculus domesticus in terms of the evolution of paternal care during the first 10-days post-partum and absolute (father alone) and relative
(both parents) values. We then recovered indirect evidence of young being cared for by males from field data. The results
were unambiguous in showing that the two species differed dramatically in paternal behaviour, with no variation being observed
during the initial pup development. Mus spretus dedicated half of its time to caring from the young against less than 10% in M. m. domesticus. The former species showed the same number of retrieving acts and direct care bouts both in the presence and in the absence
of the mother. Merging these results with field observations of spatial association “male-young” until subadult age, we drew
conclusions on the likely occurrence of paternal care in M. spretus. Taken together with our previous results on socio-spatial organisation and pair bonding, we propose that social monogamy
is advanced for this species. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|