Paul Manabi, Bhadra Anindita
Behaviour and Ecology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur, West Bengal, India.
PLoS One. 2017 Feb 8;12(2):e0170590. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170590. eCollection 2017.
Parent-offspring conflict theory predicts the emergence of weaning conflict between a mother and her offspring arising from skewed relatedness benefits. Empirical observations of weaning conflict have not been carried out in canids. In a field-based study on free-ranging dogs we observed that nursing/suckling bout durations decrease, proportion of mother-initiated nursing bouts decrease and mother-initiated nursing/suckling terminations increase with pup age. We identified the 7th - 13th week period of pup age as the zone of conflict between the mother and her pups, beyond which suckling solicitations cease, and before which suckling refusals are few. We also report for the first time milk theft by pups who take advantage of the presence of multiple lactating females, due to the promiscuous mating system of the dogs. This behaviour, though apparently disadvantageous for the mothers, is perhaps adaptive for the dogs in the face of high mortality and competition for resources.
亲子冲突理论预测，由于亲缘利益的偏差，母亲与其后代之间会出现断奶冲突。犬科动物尚未进行断奶冲突的实证观察。在一项针对自由放养犬的实地研究中，我们观察到，随着幼犬年龄增长，哺乳/吮乳时间缩短，母亲发起的哺乳次数比例下降，母亲发起的哺乳/吮乳终止次数增加。我们确定幼犬7至13周龄为母亲与其幼犬之间的冲突阶段，在此之后吮乳请求停止，在此之前吮乳拒绝很少。我们还首次报告了幼犬偷奶行为，这是由于犬类杂乱的交配系统，幼犬利用了多个泌乳母犬的存在。这种行为虽然对母亲显然不利，但面对高死亡率和资源竞争，可能对犬类具有适应性。
