Abstract
There is increasing evidence that some vertebrates can adjust their growth rate in relation to changes in the social context that affect their probability of breeding. Here, we show that, in meerkats (Suricata suricatta), which are singular cooperative breeders, subordinate females increase in body mass after their father is replaced as the dominant male in their natal group by an immigrant male, giving them regular access to an unfamiliar and unrelated mating partner, while their brothers showed no similar increase nor did subordinate females living in other stable groups (where male immigration did not occur did) in this time period. Moreover, subordinate females showed a greater increase in growth rate when their father was succeeded by an unfamiliar immigrant male than when he was replaced by a familiar male who was already resident. These results suggest that female meerkats can adjust their rate of growth to changes in the kinship composition of their groups that provide them with increased access to unrelated breeding partners, which may occur in other mammals as well when breeding opportunities change.
Highlights
Recent research on social vertebrates shows that individuals of some species adjust their growth rate in relation to variation in the costs and benefits of body mass generated by changes in their social en‐ vironment
In Kalahari meerkats, resident subordinate females exhibit an increase in growth rate when their father is re‐ placed by an immigrant unfamiliar male as dominant, while their brothers in the same groups and subordinate females living in other groups in the same population where individual males were not re‐ placed showed no significant rise in growth over the same period
The stronger response of subordinate females to the presence of an immigrant male than to that of a natal dominant male sug‐ gests that it is the presence of an unrelated male rather than the absence of their father that stimulates increases in growth
Summary
Recent research on social vertebrates shows that individuals of some species adjust their growth rate in relation to variation in the costs and benefits of body mass generated by changes in their social en‐ vironment. Increases in growth and mass and changes in body shape asso‐ ciated with social conditions that provide subordinate females with breeding opportunities may generate reproductive benefits of two kinds. They may improve the capacity of females to gestate relatively large litters: for example, in Damaraland mole‐rats, in‐ creases in growth of individuals that acquire breeding positions are associated with the development of a more elongate body shape (Young & Bennett, 2010) and larger individuals conceive, gestate and produce larger litters (Thorley, Katlein, Goddard, Zöttl, & Clutton‐ Brock, 2018). We compare the growth of resident subordinate females after the arrival of immi‐ grant males with their growth after the death of resident dominant females
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