TY - JOUR
T1 - An observation of attempted infanticide and femalefemale cooperation in wild plains zebras (Equus quagga)
AU - Hex, Severine B.S.W.
AU - Mwangi, Margaret
AU - Warungu, Rosemary
AU - Rubenstein, Daniel I.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Koninklijke Brill NV.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Male infanticide has been reported in a wide range of taxa as a strategy for redirecting maternal investment and increasing a males chance of siring future offspring. Plains zebras (Equus quagga) possess many of the social organization and life history traits found to favour infanticide. However, most documented cases are from captive animals, while it has not been detected in studies of free-ranging populations. Here, we report an apparent infanticide attempt in which the historical associations of all participants were known. In addition, we report the first instance of non-kin femalefemale cooperative defence against male aggression in this species. We discuss why this behaviour may not have been observed by other longitudinal studies. We then explore how intraspecific and inter-individual variation may factor into its relative rarity, how the reproductive biology of plains zebras relates to this behaviour, and how femalefemale cooperation between non-kin can operate as an effective counterstrategy.
AB - Male infanticide has been reported in a wide range of taxa as a strategy for redirecting maternal investment and increasing a males chance of siring future offspring. Plains zebras (Equus quagga) possess many of the social organization and life history traits found to favour infanticide. However, most documented cases are from captive animals, while it has not been detected in studies of free-ranging populations. Here, we report an apparent infanticide attempt in which the historical associations of all participants were known. In addition, we report the first instance of non-kin femalefemale cooperative defence against male aggression in this species. We discuss why this behaviour may not have been observed by other longitudinal studies. We then explore how intraspecific and inter-individual variation may factor into its relative rarity, how the reproductive biology of plains zebras relates to this behaviour, and how femalefemale cooperation between non-kin can operate as an effective counterstrategy.
KW - Equidae
KW - equids
KW - sexual conflict
KW - third-party intervention
KW - ungulate
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U2 - 10.1163/1568539X-bja10172
DO - 10.1163/1568539X-bja10172
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85132996359
SN - 0005-7959
JO - BEHAVIOUR
JF - BEHAVIOUR
ER -