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Science 19 January 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5503, pp. 478 - 481
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5503.478
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Reports

Cooperation, Control, and Concession in Meerkat Groups

T. H. Clutton-Brock,1* P. N. M. Brotherton,1 A. F. Russell,1 M. J. O'Riain,2 D. Gaynor,2 R. Kansky,2 A. Griffin,3 M. Manser,1 L. Sharpe,2 G. M. McIlrath,2 T. Small,4 A. Moss,4 S. Monfort4

"Limited control" models of reproductive skew in cooperative societies suggest that the frequency of breeding by subordinates is determined by the outcome of power struggles with dominants. In contrast, "optimal skew" models suggest that dominants have full control of subordinate reproduction and allow subordinates to breed only when this serves to retain subordinates' assistance with rearing dominants' own litters. The results of our 7-year field study of cooperative meerkats, Suricata suricatta, support the predictions of limited control models and provide no indication that dominant females grant reproductive concessions to subordinates to retain their assistance with future breeding attempts.

1 Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
2 Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, 0002 Pretoria, South Africa.
3 Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.
4 Conservation and Research Center, Smithsonian Institution, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: thcb{at}hermes.cam.ac.uk

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