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A double pedigree reveals genetic but not cultural inheritance of cooperative personalities in wild banded mongooses
Author(s) -
Nichols Hazel J.,
Arbuckle Kevin,
Sanderson Jennifer L.,
Vitikainen Emma I. K.,
Marshall Harry H.,
Thompson Faye J.,
Cant Michael A.,
Wells David A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.13833
Subject(s) - personality psychology , biology , heritability , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , offspring , personality , cooperative breeding , behavioural genetics , evolutionary biology , big five personality traits , ecology , genetics , zoology , psychology , social psychology , gene , pregnancy
Personality traits, such as the propensity to cooperate, are often inherited from parents to offspring, but the pathway of inheritance is unclear. Traits could be inherited via genetic or parental effects, or culturally via social learning from role models. However, these pathways are difficult to disentangle in natural systems as parents are usually the source of all of these effects. Here, we exploit natural ‘cross fostering’ in wild banded mongooses to investigate the inheritance of cooperative behaviour. Our analysis of 800 adult helpers over 21 years showed low but significant genetic heritability of cooperative personalities in males but not females. Cross fostering revealed little evidence of cultural heritability: offspring reared by particularly cooperative helpers did not become more cooperative themselves. Our results demonstrate that cooperative personalities are not always highly heritable in wild, and that the basis of behavioural traits can vary within a species (here, by sex).