Recently, there have been some pretty interesting things
going on at Fisi camp. Drama you could say. Well, to be honest, there is always
drama in the hyena world. This one incident, dare I say it, is a betrayal of
family bonds. Let me explain.
Yogurt, a beautiful adult female, majestic in all hyena ways,
has young cubs. Named Balloon and Lazar, the two are about 6 months old and as
of now, neither have been sexed. These two rambunctious youngsters are known
for the playfulness and their boldness in pouncing on other females to
instigate a round of merriment. However, their behavior in the past couple weeks
have shown other tendencies.
The cubs nursed from a different mom! These scoundrels have been seen nursing from another female Donkey Kong
(DK) on multiple occasions. Allonursing (nursing from a mom other than your
own) is rarely seen in the spotted-hyena.
We watched the event unfold as such: a dusky evening set the
mood as Lazar and Balloon bristletail approached DK. We passed it off as
aggressions or perhaps play since DK countered their approach with a submissive
defensive parry. But then, DK lay on the ground and the cubs began to nurse.
When she would move, Lazar and Balloon would follow and exhibit aggressive
attempts again to begin nursing.
In the field, we have always identified moms with their
respective cubs by nursing. That’s because cases of allonursing are flukes,
occurring almost never (never say never in science.) So, why are the hyenas
nursing other cubs? What sort of benefit would a mother receive form nursing a
non-relative’s cubs?
Interestingly enough, there are cases of cub adoptions. When
a mother loses her own cubs she may (rarely) adopt those of a clan-mate’s (East
et al. 2009). No matter what a young cub’s rank was in the hierarchy at time of
birth (that of her/his biological mother), if raised by another mom, the cub
inherited the adoptive mom’s societal rank (East et al. 2009). So it would
appear that the social environment a mother creates for her cub, outside of the
womb, may be highly influential in determining said cub’s rank (East et al.
2009). Additionally, adoptive mothers were not always closely related to a
birth mother. So in an evolutionary sense, why would a spotted hyena adopt new
cubs? What benefits could you accrue by raising another’s offspring?
DK may have lost her cubs, which is why she allowed nursing
by Balloon and Lazar. But, (as advised by Kay and former RA/new lab manager
Hadley) we believe this could also be a sign of the clan beginning to fission.
As you may know hyena clans interact as fission-fusion groups, breaking apart
when they become too large. Talek West has 120 individuals and may be beginning
to burst at the seams. Signs of fission can include breaking down of the social
hierarchy and changes between hyena relationships.
Pica (the cub above) has also been seen to nurse from her aunt, Amazon. |
Stay tuned. For now, enjoy the fact that humans rarely
allonurse...(or do we? Wet-nurses.)
Works Cited:
East, M.L., Honer, O.P., Wachter, B., Wilelm, K., Burke, T.,
Hofer, H. 2009. Maternal effects on offspring social status in spotted hyenas.
Behavioral Ecology. 10: 478-483.
*Apologies for the lateness on this blog entry. More technical difficulties than I would like to ever think about again.
4 comments:
Great post! Has anyone seen Cyberman being nursed by anyone since those early days as an orphan?
A funny thing is that Alfredo allo-nursed Burger and Scamper a few years ago. She may be normal for now...
Dee: Not sure about Cyberman, however since I've been here I don't think she's been nursing from anyone. (Although we always see her fat and healthy so clearly she is doing fine!) Thanks for reading!
JWTurner: Ah, good catch! These hyenas are far too tricky.
Dee: Not sure about Cyberman, however since I've been here I don't think she's been nursing from anyone. (Although we always see her fat and healthy so clearly she is doing fine!) Thanks for reading!
JWTurner: Ah, good catch! These hyenas are far too tricky.
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