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Why breed communally? Factors affecting fecundity in a communal breeding mammal: the banded mongoose (Mungos mungo)

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Abstract

Fecundity is an important component of fitness. In cooperatively breeding species, studies aimed at understanding the factors that affect fecundity have largely been restricted to species that exhibit high reproductive skew, where reproduction is monopolised by a few individuals. In such species, dominant suppression and inbreeding avoidance are the principal explanations for low fecundity in subordinate females. In this paper, we evaluate the relative effects of individual, social, and environmental factors on female fecundity in a low skew cooperative breeding mammal: the banded mongoose (Mungos mungo). Most females (80%) conceived in each breeding event, and most pregnant females (93%) carried their litter to term. The principal determinants of a female’s fecundity were intrinsic qualities, particularly age and body size. However, there was no evidence of dominant suppression of subordinate reproduction or inbreeding avoidance. Similarly, there was little indication that social or environmental factors influence fecundity. We suggest that in the banded mongoose, the apparent lack of costs to inbreeding, and the absence of dominant female suppression of reproduction in other females result in low reproductive skew. Indeed, in banded mongooses, like lions (Felis leo), multiple breeding may be a consequence of benefits to rearing young communally.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the following for advice, or for comments on the manuscript: Andy Russell, Tim Clutton-Brock, Tim Coulson, Mike Cant, and the anonymous reviewers. We are grateful to the Uganda Wildlife Authority for allowing us to conduct our research in Queen Elizabeth National Park. For financial support, J.S.G. thanks the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Ian Karten Charitable Trust, and in Cambridge: Magdalene College, the Board of Graduate Studies, the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and the Department of Zoology.

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Author notes

  1. Jason S. Gilchrist

    Present address: School of Life Sciences, Napier University, Merchiston Campus, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT, UK

  2. Emily Otali

    Present address: Biological Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK

    Jason S. Gilchrist

  2. Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, PO BOX 7298, Kampala, Uganda

    Emily Otali

  3. Queen Elizabeth National Park, PO Box 22, Lake Katwe, Uganda

    Francis Mwanguhya

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  1. Jason S. Gilchrist
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  2. Emily Otali
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Correspondence to Jason S. Gilchrist.

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Communicated by F. Trillmich

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Gilchrist, J.S., Otali, E. & Mwanguhya, F. Why breed communally? Factors affecting fecundity in a communal breeding mammal: the banded mongoose (Mungos mungo). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 57, 119–131 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-004-0837-y

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