Engh AL, Esch K, Smale L, Holekamp KE
Department of Zoology, Michigan State University
Anim Behav. 2000 Sep;60(3):323-332. doi: 10.1006/anbe.2000.1502.
Maternal rank 'inheritance', the process by which juveniles attain positions in the dominance hierarchy adjacent to those of their mothers, occurs in both cercopithecine primates and spotted hyaenas. Maternal rank is acquired in primates through defensive maternal interventions, coalitionary support and unprovoked aggression ('harassment') directed by adult females towards offspring of lower-ranking individuals. Genetic heritability of rank-related traits plays a negligible role in primate rank acquisition. Because the social lives of Crocuta and cercopithecine primates share many common features, we examined whether the same mechanisms might operate in both taxa to promote maternal rank 'inheritance'. We observed a large clan of free-living spotted hyaenas in Kenya to test predictions of four mechanistic hypotheses. Hyaena rank acquisition did not appear to be directly affected by genetic heritability. Unprovoked aggression from adult female hyaenas was not directed preferentially towards low-ranking cubs. However, high-ranking mothers intervened on behalf of their cubs more frequently and more effectively than low-ranking mothers. Maternal interventions and supportive coalitions appeared to reinforce aggression directed at 'appropriate' conspecific targets, whereas coalitionary aggression directed at cubs apparently functioned to extinguish their aggressive behaviour towards 'inappropriate' targets. Young hyaenas and primates thus appear to 'inherit' their mothers' ranks by strikingly similar mechanisms. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
母系等级“继承”，即幼崽在优势等级制度中获得与母亲相邻地位的过程，在猕猴灵长类动物和斑鬣狗中都存在。在灵长类动物中，母系等级是通过母性的防御性干预、联盟支持以及成年雌性对低等级个体后代的无端攻击（“骚扰”）来获得的。等级相关特征的遗传遗传性在灵长类动物等级获取中所起的作用微不足道。由于斑鬣狗和猕猴灵长类动物的社会生活有许多共同特征，我们研究了这两个类群中是否可能存在相同的机制来促进母系等级“继承”。我们观察了肯尼亚一个自由生活的大型斑鬣狗家族，以检验四个机制假说的预测。鬣狗等级的获取似乎并未直接受到遗传遗传性的影响。成年雌性鬣狗的无端攻击并非优先针对低等级幼崽。然而，高等级的母亲比低等级的母亲更频繁、更有效地为其幼崽进行干预。母性干预和支持性联盟似乎强化了针对“合适”同种目标的攻击，而针对幼崽的联盟攻击显然起到了消除它们对“不合适”目标的攻击行为的作用。因此，幼年鬣狗和灵长类动物似乎通过极为相似的机制“继承”了母亲的等级。版权所有2000动物行为研究协会。
