科研之友
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摘要
The highly social subterranean voles of genus Ellobius (mole vole) represent a unique model to compare with both social bathyergids and surface-dwelling voles. Unlike most arvicolines, mole voles display the prolonged obligatory delay of dispersal. In subterranean rodents, this delay may be associated with benefits of cooperation (weaned offspring help their parents), an extended parental investment (parents care for weaned offspring), or both. To identify the role offspring aged %26lt;3 months play in mole vole families, we estimated their contribution to important group activities. We found that juveniles contributed very little to daily living activities up to the age of approximately 2 months. The older offspring carried objects at least as frequently as breeders, but they engaged in gnawing obstacles less frequently than their fathers. Male breeders and non-breeders engaged in gnawing more than the respective categories of females. Although young mole voles clearly did not surpass their parents in performing the more energetically costly activities, they gained body mass by 26 g (130 %) between days 30 and 90, often surpassing their parents in weight. Based on our results, in E. tancrei an extremely prolonged infancy is followed by intensive building of body reserves. This ontogenetic trajectory appears to be distinct from the patterns described for social bathyergids and for most voles.
- 出版日期2014-1
