Möller L M, Beheregaray L B, Harcourt R G, Krützen M
Marine Mammal Research Group, Graduate School of the Environment, and Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, 2109, New South Wales, Australia.
Proc Biol Sci. 2001 Sep 22;268(1479):1941-7. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2001.1756.
Bottlenose dolphins are one of only a few mammalian taxa where the males are known to cooperate within their social group in order to maintain mating access to single females against other males. Male bonds in bottlenose dolphins have been hypothesized as evolving through kinship and associated inclusive fitness effects. In this study we tested whether individually identified male bottlenose dolphins preferentially associate and form alliances with kin in a small coastal resident population of southeastern Australia using a combination of behavioural data, genetic sexing, sequences of the mitochondrial DNA control region and nuclear microsatellite markers. Males generally associated significantly more often than expected with one to three other males, with whom they jointly herded females for mating. Associations and alliance membership were not associated with either maternal kinship or genetic relatedness. The majority of male pairs within alliances were randomly related, although high relatedness values were found between males of different alliances in the resident population. These findings indicate that mechanisms other than kin selection may be foremost in the development and maintenance of cooperation between male bottlenose dolphins.
宽吻海豚是仅有的少数几个哺乳动物类群之一，已知在其社会群体中，雄性会相互合作，以确保相对于其他雄性而言，能够与单一雌性进行交配。宽吻海豚中的雄性纽带被认为是通过亲属关系及相关的广义适合度效应而进化形成的。在本研究中，我们利用行为数据、遗传性别鉴定、线粒体DNA控制区序列和核微卫星标记相结合的方法，对澳大利亚东南部一个小型沿海定居种群中个体已识别的雄性宽吻海豚是否优先与亲属建立联系并结成联盟进行了测试。雄性通常与另外一至三头雄性的关联次数显著多于预期，它们会共同驱赶雌性进行交配。关联和联盟成员关系与母系亲属关系或遗传相关性均无关联。联盟中的大多数雄性配对是随机相关的，尽管在定居种群中不同联盟的雄性之间发现了较高的相关性值。这些发现表明，除亲属选择之外的机制可能在雄性宽吻海豚之间合作的发展和维持中最为重要。
