Patterns of relatedness and parentage in an asocial, polyandrous striped hyena population.
We investigated patterns of relatedness and reproduction in a population of striped hyenas in which individuals are behaviourally solitary but form polyandrous spatial groups consisting of one adult female and multiple adult males. Group-mate males were often close relatives, but were unrelated or distantly related in some cases, indicating that male coalitions are not strictly a result of philopatry or dispersal with cohorts of relatives. Most male-female pairs within spatial groups were unrelated or only distantly related. Considering patterns of relatedness between groups, relatedness was significantly higher among adult males living in non-neighbouring ranges than among neighbouring males. Mean relatedness among male-female dyads was highest for group-mates, but relatedness among non-neighbouring males and females was also significantly higher than among dyads of opposite-sex neighbours. Female-female relatedness also increased significantly with increasing geographic separation. These unusual and unexpected patterns may reflect selection to settle in a nonadjacent manner to reduce inbreeding and/or competition among relatives for resources (both sexes), or mates (males). Finally, resident males fathered the majority of the resident female's cubs, but extra-group paternity was likely in 31% of the cases examined, and multiple paternity was likely in half of the sampled litters.
Wagner
Aaron P
AP
Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. apwagner@msu.edu
Creel
Scott
S
Frank
Laurence G
LG
Kalinowski
Steven T
ST
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D045968:Hyaenidae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D007630:Kenya; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010375:Pedigree; D012919:Social Behavior