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The effects of food deprivation, aggression, and isolation on infanticide in the male Mongolian gerbil
Author(s) -
Elwood Robert W.,
Ostermeyer Malcolm C.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/1098-2337(1984)10:4<293::aid-ab2480100403>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - offspring , aggression , cannibalism , gerbil , biology , adult male , psychology , physiology , developmental psychology , endocrinology , medicine , pregnancy , ecology , predation , genetics , ischemia
Male Mongolian gerbils show an increase in infanticide and pup‐cannibalism after 24‐hr food deprivation, suggesting that food acquisition is a function of this activity. Dominant animals show high levels of infanticide, but subordinate animals are inhibited from this activity. An increase in infanticide is seen when males from a single sex group are isolated; this increase resembles that observed when a male is separated from his pregnant mate [Elwood, 1980]. These results suggest a mechanism whereby males are normally brought into a noninfanticidal state during cohabitation with their pregnant mates owing to subordination by the latter. In this manner males are able to utilize strange pups as food but avoid harming their own offspring.