Female Neighbors Research Articles

A Postcolonial Woman’s Encounter with Moses and Miriam by Angeline M. G. Song

Reviewed by: A Postcolonial Woman’s Encounter with Moses and Miriam by Angeline M. G. Song Michael Ufok Udoekpo angeline m. g. song, A Postcolonial Woman’s Encounter with Moses and Miriam (Postcolonialism and Religions; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). Pp. x + 262. $100. In this revised doctoral work originally submitted by Angeline M. G. Song to the University of Otago, New Zealand, under the supervision of Judith McKinlay, S. reinterprets Exodus 2 using a tripartite hermeneutical perspective of empathy, postcolonialism, [End Page 129] and focalization optics. She introduces herself as a Peranakan of mixed Malay-Chinese ancestry, a female adoptee from Singapore, a former British colony. She employs this identity as an interpretative point of departure (p. 2). In six readable chapters with extensive endnotes and bibliography advantageous to biblical scholars, S. relates her personal colonial and postcolonial Singaporean experiences to those of the biblical Moses and Miriam in the cultural context of ancient Egypt, which resonates with me, as a Nigerian-American biblical scholar. Song proceeds to review in detail her life story as a female adoptee growing up in a patriarchal, postcolonial Southeast Asian society. As an immigrant in New Zealand, she was faced with many challenges, including identity crises, nervousness, anxiety, the trauma of abandonment, the dilemma of loss of origins, and racial abuse. It was also there that “a white Caucasian female neighbor mocked” and mimicked her Singaporean accent and taught her two young children to make piggy noises at S. each time they saw her walking up her driveway (pp. 29–36). In chap. 2, S. explains her empathic hermeneutical strategies, starting with the popular understanding of “empathy” as “feeling with” (p. 39). S. further notes the urgency of this method and how contemporary neuroscientists have made several important discoveries about the phenomenon of empathy. In biblical exegesis, the term is found in Thomas B. Dozeman’s glossary in Methods for Exodus (Methods in Biblical Interpretation; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) 235–40. Historically, however, empathy (empatheia in Greek, and Einfühlung in German) is largely traceable to the field of German aesthetics, basically pointing to self-projection, or putting oneself in another’s shoes (p. 41). Therefore, empathic reading, S. stresses, “is always self-conscious and self-reflexive in nature . . . being able to empathize with a certain literary character”—in this case, Moses and Miriam. (p. 63). In chap. 3, S. defines postcolonial criticism as a “reading posture”; there is no single definition of postcolonial criticism because of its diverse usage among practitioners of various disciplines. S. rather masterfully establishes her distinctive postcolonial optic by drawing on the insights of early anticolonial or postcolonial writers such as Robert J. C. Young (Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction [London: Blackwell, 2001] 266), Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart [Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1958]), Frantz Fanon (The Wretched of the Earth [trans. Constance Farrington; New York: Grove Press, 1963]), Aimé Césaire (Discourse on Colonialism [trans. Joan Pinkham; New York; Monthly Review Press, 1972]), Homi K. Bhabha (The Location of Culture [New York: Routledge, 1994]), Edward W. Said (Orientalism [ New York: Vintage Books, 1978]), Said (Culture and Imperialism [New York: Vintage Books, 1993]), Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics [New York: Routledge, 1988]), Fernando F. Segovia (“Toward a Hermeneutics of the Diaspora: A Hermeneutics of Otherness and Engagement,” in Reading from This Place, vol. 1, Social Location and Biblical Interpretation in the United States [ed. Fernando F. Segovia and Mary Ann Tolbert; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995] 57–73), R. S. Sugirtharajah (The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001]) and many others. S. formulates her distinctive “Sang Kancil postcolonial optic” with interpretative energy from “a clever mouse-deer character in a Malay classical folk tale” (pp. 67–94). [End Page 130] In addition to empathic and postcolonial optics, in chap. 4, S. discusses her focalization methodology, which also foregrounds her reading of Exodus 2. While an empathic reading focuses on the reader’s perspective of critiquing the text, an integrated interpretive strategy concerned with the perspective inherent within the text can assist the reader in identifying from whose point of view the narrative scene (Exodus 2) is...

Scratch that itch: revisiting links between self-directed behaviour and parasitological, social and environmental factors in a free-ranging primate.

Different hypotheses explain variation in the occurrence of self-directed behaviour such as scratching and self-grooming: a parasite hypothesis linked with ectoparasite load, an environmental hypothesis linked with seasonal conditions and a social hypothesis linked with social factors. These hypotheses are not mutually exclusive but are often considered separately. Here, we revisited these hypotheses together in female Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata fuscata) of Kōjima islet, Japan. We input occurrences of scratching and self-grooming during focal observations in models combining parasitological (lice load), social (dominance rank, social grooming, aggression received and proximity), and environmental (rainfall, temperature and season) variables. Using an information-theory approach, we simultaneously compared the explanatory value of models against each other using variation in Akaike's information criterion and Akaike's weights. We found that evidence for models with lice load, with or without environmental–social parameters, was stronger than that for other models. In these models, scratching was positively associated with lice load and social grooming whereas self-grooming was negatively associated with lice load and positively associated with social grooming, dominance rank and number of female neighbours. This study indicates that the study animals scratch primarily because of an immune/stimulus itch, possibly triggered by ectoparasite bites/movements. It also confirms that self-grooming could act as a displacement activity in the case of social uncertainty. We advocate that biological hypotheses be more broadly considered even when investigating social processes, as one does not exclude the other.

Social network characteristics and cervical cancer screening among Quechua women in Andean Peru.

BackgroundPeru has high cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates compared to other Andean countries. Therefore, partnerships between governmental and international organizations have targeted rural areas of Peru to receive cervical cancer screening via outreach campaigns. Previous studies have found a relationship between a person’s social networks and cancer screening behaviors. Screening outreach campaigns conducted by the nonprofit organization CerviCusco created an opportunity for a social network study to examine cervical cancer screening history and social network characteristics in a rural indigenous community that participated in these campaigns in 2012 and 2013. The aim of this study was to explore social network characteristics in this community related to receipt of cervical cancer screening following the campaigns.MethodsAn egocentric social network questionnaire was used to collect cross-sectional network data on community participants. Each survey participant (ego) was asked to name six other women they knew (alters) and identify the nature of their relationship or tie (family, friend, neighbor, other), residential closeness (within 5 km), length of time known, frequency of communication, topics of conversation, and whether they lent money to the person, provided childcare or helped with transportation. In addition, each participant was asked to report the nature of the relationship between all alters identified (e.g., friend, family, or neighbor). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to explore the relationship between Pap test receipt at the CerviCusco outreach screening campaigns and social network characteristics.ResultsBivariate results found significant differences in percentage of alter composition for neighbors and family, and for mean number of years known, mean density, and mean degree centrality between women who had received a Pap test (n = 19) compared to those who had not (n = 50) (p’s < 0.05). The final logistic regression model was statistically significant (χ2 (2) = 20.911, p < .001). The model included the variables for percentage of family alter composition and mean density, and it explained 37.8 % (Nagelkerke R2) of the variance in Pap test receipt, correctly classifying 78.3 % of cases. Those women with higher percentages of family alter composition and higher mean density in their ego networks were less likely to have received a Pap test at the CerviCusco campaigns.ConclusionsAccording to this exploratory study, female neighbors more than family members may have provided an important source of social support for healthcare related decisions related to receipt of a Pap test. Future studies should collect longitudinal social network data on participants to measure the network effects of screening interventions in rural indigenous communities in Latin American countries experiencing the highest burden of cervical cancer.

Space use by female agile antechinus: are teat number and home-range size linked?

Context The number of teats that a female agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis) possesses effectively determines her initial litter size. In the Otway Ranges, south-eastern Australia, numerous separate populations in which all females have either six or 10 teats occur fairly close together in similar, contiguous forest at comparable altitudes and latitudes. Six-teat and 10-teat females have a similar mean mass, but the latter have a 1.7 × greater reproductive potential and so should have a greater nutritional requirement while raising young than do six-teat females. Theoretically, they could meet this requirement by occupying larger and/or more exclusive home ranges during breeding than do six-teat females do (provided that their food-resource abundance is comparable), albeit at a greater energetic cost. Aims The aim of the study was to determine whether 10-teat A. agilis females occupied larger and less overlapping home ranges than did six-teat females. To interpret the findings more meaningfully, it was necessary to compare food abundance and habitat characteristics in areas occupied by the two phenotypes. Methods The investigation was conducted in six-teat and 10-teat A. agilis areas in cool temperate forest over 22 months. Population density was determined by mark–recapture methods and arthropod prey biomass and abundance by pitfall trapping. Vegetation structure and plant-taxa abundance and diversity were determined by standard plant-survey methods. Female home-range estimates determined by radio-tracking were based on 95% minimal convex polygons (MCP) and kernel analysis. Home-range overlap was based on 80% MCP range determinations and core areas were calculated from utilisation plots. Key results Female population density was 2.5 × lower in exclusively 10-teat than in exclusively six-teat populations. Radio-tracked 10-teat females’ home ranges less commonly overlapped those of identified female neighbours and, on average, were 1.5 × larger than ranges of six-teat females. Food abundance and composition was similar in six-teat and 10-teat areas, but ground cover was denser and more complex in the latter areas. Conclusions Food-resource availability was similar in the six-teat and 10-teat phenotype areas, so the larger, and probably more exclusive, home ranges of 10-teat females could reflect greater nutritional requirements resulting from having larger litters, and account for their lower population density. Implications The A. agilis teat-number variation pattern in the Otways may be a rare, visible example of ongoing incipient speciation. This makes it of great scientific and conservation value and it is important to document how the phenomenon operates.

Manipulation of population density and food availability affects home range sizes of African striped mouse females

An individual's home range determines its access to resources, significantly influencing its fitness. Food availability and population density are considered to be among the primary factors influencing home range sizes; however, no study has experimentally tested whether these two factors affect home range sizes independently. This is important as these two factors correlate significantly with each other, making it difficult to differentiate the effect of one from the other. First, we supplemented food to 23 female African striped mice, Rhabdomys pumilio, belonging to 15 different groups. To avoid an increase in population density by immigration, we also provided food to neighbouring groups. Although population density did not increase, female home range sizes decreased by 43.1%. In a second experiment, we manipulated population density by removing entire social groups of striped mice. We carried out experiments within 7 weeks, a period short enough to control for a change in natural food availability. Experimental decrease of population density caused an increase of female home range sizes of 44.3%. The degree of home range overlap between female striped mice was unaffected by supplemental feeding or by reduction of population density. However, female home range sizes were negatively affected by the total number of female neighbours, especially of heavier individuals. In addition, after removal, females significantly decreased their overlap with neighbouring breeding females indicating that competition with same-sex individuals shapes females' home ranges. This is the first comprehensive experimental field study demonstrating that an increase in food availability and a decrease in population density independently affect home range sizes of individuals.

Crisis of Care

When the quality of childcare services is dependable, the cost is affordable and access is readily available, the initial result is a significant reduction of unrealistic societal demands on both fathers and mothers. Mothers will no longer dread the stigma of selfishness which society unfairly attaches to women who, because of eager pursuit of their careers, are perceived to be lacking in concern for their children’s well-being. On the other hand, fathers will be less pressured to earn additional income to afford the expenses that come with the birth of a new member of the family. We shall see less fathers burning the midnight oil in the office and more of them reading stories to their children at bedtime. Hence, mothers and fathers will be emancipated from their stereotyped roles of nurturer and provider, respectively. Moreover, parents who entrust their children to childcare centers staffed by trained professionals working under a standard curriculum closely monitored by state institutions can do so without being consumed by feelings of guilt or haunted by unfounded fear that their children are left in an unsafe and unhealthy environment. Instead, there is a strong sense of confidence that children are not only properly cared for but are likewise adequately prepared for the next stage of life, primary education. The good results, however, do not end here. The ultimate gain for society would be the early cultivation of the concept of equality among children who grow-up interacting with a diverse set of playmates in an environment that is supportive of their intellectual, social and emotional development. The cure to the crisis of care is society’s recognition that raising children is not a purely domestic issue confined to the private realm of the home but one that requires government support and contribution. In the past centuries that we allowed it to remain a domestic matter, we saw how patriarchy resulted in the concentration of parenting duties on mothers instead of an equitable division between mothers and fathers. When women started working outside the home, they turned to other women in the family - mothers, aunts, sisters, cousins, or older daughters - or, even outside the family - female neighbors and friends, or hired house helpers - instead of soliciting the assistance of their husbands, sometimes to keep the peace, oftentimes simply because such is the norm. Thus, we see women passing on childcare duties to other women who likewise have childcare duties passed on to other women, in an unending chain of female domestic bondage.On the other hand, fathers have long been driven to devote their time to work, and more work, to be able to provide for the growing needs of the family, forgetting that they also need to devote time to bond with their children. The result is lack of competence and confidence that they, too, are capable of caring, hence, they readily leave the task in the hands of their wives whom they perceive to be more skilled. Still a few others may continue to fear the probability of being branded as henpecked husbands as soon as friends and neighbors start to notice their assumption of childcare duties. In the affluent countries herein examined, government intervention is evident in more ways than one, ranging from strict regulation of daycare facilities and professionalization of caregivers in the United States to the grant of subsidy for childcare expenses incurred by parents in Canada which take the form either of outright cash allowances or tax credits. The same benefits are available in Singapore and in Hong Kong in even more generous terms, as well as in France and Sweden, where these are complement by a universal system of childcare that is reliable, affordable and accessible to all families regardless of economic status coupled with the provision of wage or salary replacement for parents who opt to personally attend to the needs of their children. Not all of these are immediately possible in the Philippines because of the economic difficulties that the country is grappling with. But, for the time being, nothing prevents, at the very least, implementation of strict regulation of daycare facilities, professionalization of caregivers, and grant of tax credits for the amounts spent by parents in paying for daycare services or in hiring professional caregivers for their children.

Adoption and infanticide in an altricial colonial seabird, the Blue-footed Booby: the roles of nest density, breeding success, and sex-biased behavior

We aimed to elucidate the factors that influence the frequency of adoption and infanticide in the Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii), a seabird with biparental chick care and high chick-rearing costs. We obtained data from two colonies during four breeding seasons. In addition, we removed parents from their nests for short periods of time (10 min) and fitted their chicks with polyethylene foam protectors, in order to record chick behavior, particularly interactions with neighboring adults. Adoption and infanticide occurred mostly in zones of high nest density and during years of high breeding success. The chicks adopted were 20–40 days of age, the age at which they acquire mobility and parents still experience a certain inability to recognize them. Adopted chicks were slightly younger than chicks in the broods into which they were adopted. In most cases, adoptees were younger than their siblings in their natal broods. We also recorded short-term (lasting only a few hours) alloparental care for chicks older than 40 days. When we excluded parents from nests and their chicks were attacked, it was female neighbors that physically attacked them, whereas males were more prone to brood or preen them; therefore, the sex with certainty of parenthood was more prone to practice infanticide, presumably to avoid adoption. The lack of aggressiveness by males might be due to the possibility of paternity, given the occurrence of extra-pair copulations in this species.

Eliminative Behavior of Captive Numbats, Myrmecobius fasciatus (Mammalia; Marsupialia): Pattern and Identification of Fecal Deposits

This study examined the spatial defecation patterns of numbats within captivity and tested the efficacy of a food colorant as a fecal marker in this species. Rather than randomly distributing scats throughout their environment, the numbats aggregated their feces at specific sites forming latrines. It is unclear whether the strong inclination for latrine formation was due to this species' inherent behavior or is a direct result of captivity. Males were found to have a higher daily defecation rate, different defecation time, larger number of latrines, and greater number of scats per quadrant, as compared to females. In this study, the majority of scats were deposited along enclosure boundaries and for both sexes there was a higher probability of latrines being placed along enclosure fencing shared with a female neighbor. The high concentration of latrines along boundaries suggests that they may play a role in territorial defense. The results also indicated that captive numbats tend to choose defecation points away from food and refuge sites. Transit and total retention time of the marker through the GIT was ≤3 hr and between 24 and 27 hr, respectively. A marker dose of 3 gtts feed(-1) × 2 feeds day(-1) was required to reach a steady and detectable state of marker output, which enabled accurate identification of individual samples during the breeding season. Reliable labeling was obtained using blue and red colored food dye, and there was no evidence that incorporation of the marker into the diet had any negative effects on food intake.

Do marmots display a ‘dear enemy phenomenon’ in response to anal gland secretions?

AbstractThe ‘dear enemy phenomenon’ (DEP) is a form of neighbour–stranger discrimination in which resident territorial individuals respond less agonistically to intrusions by known neighbouring conspecifics than they do to strangers. We tested philopatric female yellow‐bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) for the presence of DEP. We hypothesized that dominant females discriminated between the anal gland secretion (AGS) from female neighbours and strangers, and predicted that they would respond more agonistically (as reflected by the duration of both sniffing and physical behaviour) towards AGS from strangers than neighbours. We also hypothesized that female marmots would respond differently to kin and non‐kin female neighbours, and predicted a reduced agonistic response to related individuals. Direct observations of resident marmot's responses to the olfactory trials showed that marmots spent significantly longer durations sniffing the AGS of both neighbours and strangers than a neutral scent‐free control. However, there was no significant difference in the sniffing response duration towards AGS from a neighbour or a stranger. In addition, kinship was not found to influence the responses of residents to neighbours or strangers. We conclude that, although female yellow‐bellied marmots detect AGS, they do not seem to discriminate between neighbours and strangers via AGS scent marks. Other secretions may be used in territorial identification.

“The Fearful Crimes of Ireland”: Tabloid Journalism and Irish Nationalism in The Playboy of the Western World

“The Fearful Crimes of Ireland”: Tabloid Journalism and Irish Nationalism in The Playboy of the Western World T. J. Boynton (bio) Near the beginning of act 2 of J. M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World (1907), Pegeen Mike returns to her father’s shebeen to discover her newfound beau Christy Mahon basking in the attentions of a throng of her female neighbors. After casting out her romantic competitors in a fit of jealous rage, she purges her irritation by intimating that word of his parricide has reached the ears of the authorities. She tells him, “I was down this morning looking on the papers the post-boy does have in his bag. . . . For there is great news this day, Christopher Mahon” (39). Following Christy’s panicked response—“Is it news of my murder?”—Pegeen continues to needle him: “Murder, indeed. . . . There was not, but a story filled half a page with the hanging of a man. Ah, that should be a fearful end, young fellow, and it worst of all for a man who destroyed his da, for the like of him would get small mercies. . . .” (39). Pegeen prolongs Christy’s punishment until, as he moves to flee the shebeen, she admits her charade: “I’m after going down and reading the fearful crimes of Ireland for two weeks or three, and there wasn’t a word of your murder. They’ve likely not found the body. You’re safe so with ourselves” (42). To date, critical accounts of Playboy have said little regarding what, aside from its entanglement with Anglo-Irish colonial law, appears the most salient sociological aspect of Pegeen’s report: namely its engagement with the print culture of contemporary Ireland through the medium of “the papers.” This dearth of attention is especially striking considering that contemporary Irish nationalism—routinely adduced as the most significant context for interpreting the play—identified newspapers as a primary source of Irish Anglicization. Emphasis on [End Page 230] Synge’s dramaturgy as an ethnography of Irish peasant life or on his aesthetic practice as a kind of primitivism has obscured the play’s depiction of western Ireland as already immersed in the consumption practices of metropolitan Britain. Any reading that takes seriously the relevance of Irish cultural nationalism to Playboy’s concerns, however, must take this immersion into account. In what follows, I argue that our understanding of Playboy’s aesthetic design, from its ethnographic and primitivist implications to its postcolonial ones and beyond, can be significantly enriched by doing so.1 Specifically, this essay places Playboy in the context of what recent Irish Studies texts call fin-de-siècle Ireland’s metrocolonial or semicolonial condition.2 Such terms designate the extent to which early twentieth-century Ireland had been integrated into the domestic culture of Britain even as it continued to bear markers of a properly colonial sociopolitical position. Particularly in the economic domain of consumption, Irish life had become functionally indistinguishable from that of its imperial counterpart, to the point that Irish subjects shared a common popular culture with the occupying power.3 To nationalists seeking to foment a distinct cultural identity as a precursor to independence, forms such as the music hall song, the musical comedy, the lowbrow fiction of the “penny novelette,” the “penny dreadful,” and the “shilling shocker,” as well as the tabloid fare of British periodicals and newspapers, suddenly appeared as vehicles [End Page 231] of Anglicization—and therefore of colonial hegemony. Ireland’s metrocolonial condition, a state of simultaneous identity with and difference from Britain, is aptly emblematized by the Revivalist campaign to achieve a functional cultural independence by expelling such popular-cultural media from the national marketplace. Synge’s richest play advances a very specific response to the nation’s enmeshment in the consumer economy of the British metropole. Playboy signals that its account of a parricide’s rise to and fall from social eminence is deeply engaged with contemporary concerns over the Irish consumption of British tabloid journalism. This reading suggests not only that Synge shared his contemporaries’ belief that Irish minds had become colonized by the popular-cultural forms of British capitalism but also that Playboy...

Fine-scale social and spatial genetic structure in Sitka black-tailed deer

The spatial extent of Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) populations below the regional scale is relatively unknown, as is dispersal between populations. Here, we use noninvasive samples to genotype 221 Sitka black-tailed deer in three watersheds on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, separated by a maximum of 44 km, using traditional and spatial genetic approaches. We find that despite geographic proximity, multiple lines of evidence suggest fine-scale genetic structure among the three study sites. The 2 most geographically distant watersheds differed significantly in genetic composition, suggesting an isolation-by-distance pattern. Within study sites, deer exhibited spatial genetic structure within a radius of 1,000 m. Based on a reduced sample of known-sex individuals, females exhibited positive spatial genetic structure within a radius of 500 m but males showed no structure. Moreover, females were more likely to be related to their 5 nearest female neighbors, regardless of distance, than were males. Evidence indicates dispersal by both sexes although it may be more common, or dispersal distances are greater, in males. Nonetheless, analysis of assignment indices and comparison of sex-specific correlograms found no evidence of sex-biased dispersal between watersheds. Patterns of spatial relatedness and connectivity suggest limited dispersal among Sitka black-tailed deer, creating genetic structure on a fine spatial scale, perhaps as small as the watershed.

Genetic relatedness and spatial associations of dusky-footed woodrats (Neotoma fuscipes)

We studied the association between space sharing and kinship in a solitary rodent, the dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes). Genetic relatedness was inversely correlated with geographic distance for female woodrats but not for males, a pattern consistent with female philopatry and male dispersal. However, some female neighbors were unrelated, suggesting the possibility of female dispersal. Relatedness of female dyads was positively correlated with overlap of their home ranges and core areas, indicating that females were more likely to share space with relatives, whereas males showed no correlation between relatedness and the sharing of either home ranges or core areas. However, some females that shared space were not close relatives, and some closely related males shared space. House sharing was exhibited both by close relatives and by distantly related or unrelated woodrats, and was not correlated with relatedness. The kin structuring we describe likely resulted from a pattern of female philopatry and male dispersal, but also may have resulted from kin-directed behaviors by females.

Child Abuse: Characteristics of the Victims and the Perpetrators

Discipline in the Filipino culture is often carried out as a corporal punishment, which, if carried to the extreme would constitute an abusive situation. The study sought to make an accurate picture of child abuse. The study used the descriptive research using documentary analysis. Results of the study revealed that the greater incidence of child abuse occurred most commonly in female children between the ages 12 – 18 years old, in families with low socio-economic level and to parents whose highest educational attainment were high school level. These abuses lasted for 1 – 5 years before being reported to the proper authorities for intervention. Most perpetrators of the abuses were the male neighbors followed by the female neighbors and the cohabiting husband; adults whom the parent/s entrust the care of their children. The study revealed that the most common form of abuse was physical abuse in the form of hitting, followed by childrape, spousal abuse in the presence of the child and verbal assault. The study concluded that child abuse damages the child not only physically but also psychologically. The parents’ low socio-economic status contributed to the stress and trauma of the child. Keywords - child abuse, perpetrators, child and victims, socioeconomic status, stress and trauma, sexual exploitation, child rape

Kinship associations of a solitary rodent, Dipodomys ingens, at fluctuating population densities

The formation of kin groups is an important step in the path to evolution of sociality in mammals. We used microsatellite DNA analyses, trapping and radiotelemetry data to investigate spatial and genetic associations of the solitary giant kangaroo rat, Dipodomys ingens. We predicted that, as population densities increase, dispersal distances should decrease to form kin groups. As predicted, females decreased dispersal distances as population densities increased to form female kin clusters of related neighbours. Males also decreased dispersal distances, but only at the highest density, and they did not form kin clusters. Males seemed to adjust their home ranges to overlap unrelated females as a possible strategy to avoid inbreeding. They were not highly related to the majority of females that they overlapped, and the nearest neighbour in most cases was an unrelated female. The significant decrease in distance between female neighbours and the formation of female kin groups at high population density represents a potential increase in social interactions among these solitary rodents. Further research is necessary to determine the extent to which D. ingens is able to discriminate between kin and other familiar animals and whether they interact preferentially to facilitate the success of closely related kin.

Brief Manic Episode After Rituximab Treatment of Limbic Encephalitis

Brief Manic Episode After Rituximab Treatment of Limbic Encephalitis

Novel electrosensory advertising during diurnal resting period in male snoutfish, Marcusenius altisambesi (Mormyridae, Teleostei)

During the day, weakly electric snoutfish, such as Marcusenius altisambesi from the Okavango delta, avoid visually oriented predators by hiding in sheltered, dark places where they discharge their electric organs at a low and variable rate, interspersed with occasional short bursts (mean discharge rate, 4–12 Hz). Hence, histograms of inter-discharge intervals (IDI) are broad and bimodal (IDI range, about 15–500 ms; “variable IDI pattern”). We report here that with a female neighbor in electrical communication reach, captive males of M. altisambesi (N = 4) each showed a novel type of IDI resting pattern that was characterized by a higher and more constant discharge rate (16–28 Hz). These IDI histograms were unimodal and narrow (IDI range, about 11–100 ms; “regularized IDI pattern”). In each of these males, the regularized pattern vanished when the female neighbors were replaced by males, and the common variable IDI pattern of low rate was observed instead. In an unforced choice paradigm, six M. altisambesi experimental females were allowed to choose between two electric fish decoys, one playing back the novel regularized IDI pattern and one playing back the variable IDI pattern. Five experimental females significantly preferred staying close to the decoy playing back the regularized IDI pattern, whereas one female showed the opposite preference. It appears that males advertise to females during their diurnal period of overt inactivity, with an inconspicuous signal that neither threatens conspecifics nor alerts predators by overt behavior. A secondary function of the regularized male IDI pattern could be to advance the reproductive cycle of females.

Black Rhinoceros are Slow to Colonize a Harvested Neighbour's Range

Live-harvests from source populations for translocation are key to rapid recovery for many species. Contrary to common assumption, however, reduced density might not Immediately Improve vital rates because animal recolonization is slow — creating management uncertainty about harvest adequacy or sustainability. Reports measuring animal recolonization are rare. We measured the response of the 19 same- or opposite-sex neighbours of 11 live-harvested black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis minor) in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa, by comparing the size and location of their activity areas for an average two years before and after harvest. The only significant change was a decolonization response by opposite-sex neighbours, especially males after the harvest of a female neighbour. Recolonization of habitat after harvest, at least by neighbours, might not Just be slow but also further delayed by the disruption of long-standing breeding relationships with Important Implications for the spatial pattern and frequ...

The battle of the sexes? Territory acquisition and defence in male and female fiddler crabs

In many territorial species males invest substantially in weapons, which they use in fights to acquire and maintain territories that ultimately give them access to females. Females often live within male territories or in female-only areas that are segregated from males. Under these circumstances, females do not have to compete directly with males for space, and in the context of territory acquisition and defence there is therefore no cost to being weaponless. In fiddler crabs, however, weaponless females hold territories among well-armed males. How do they do this? Observations and replacement experiments were carried out on Uca annulipes to determine how males and females acquire and defend territories. Weaponless females were as capable as well-armed males of both acquiring and defending a burrow. Females acquired burrows by seeking out empty ones, while males acquired them by evicting male and female burrow owners. After acquiring a burrow, males mainly fought with male neighbours and females with female neighbours. Both sexes were equally likely to be evicted from their burrow and the likelihood that they remained on their territory for 24 h or more was the same. Males and females thus used different strategies of burrow acquisition and defence, and the male strategy appeared to be more costly. We discuss possible explanations for these differences.

Safe sex: male–female coalitions and pre-copulatory mate-guarding in a fiddler crab

In fiddler crabs both males and females defend territories that are essential for survival. Given pronounced sexual dimorphism in weaponry, how do weaponless females defend their territory from well-armed males? Using observational data and two simple experiments, we test whether male Uca annulipes protect their female neighbours from conspecific intruders. We show that males defend their female neighbours against male but not female intruders. We also show that females sometimes mate with their immediate neighbours. Male defence of female neighbours appears to represent both pre-copulatory mate-guarding and a territorial coalition. Males who ensure that their neighbour remains female could benefit through increased opportunity for future reproductive success and lower boundary maintenance costs.

Sex‐specific adult dispersal and its selective consequences in the brown anole,Anolis sagrei

1. Dispersal behaviour is a potentially risky life-history strategy that can impact habitat use as well as competition over territories and mates. 2. I studied natural selection on dispersal behaviour over the course of four breeding seasons in a Bahamian population of brown anoles (Anolis sagrei). 3. Both males and females showed extremely high site fidelity over the course of each reproductive season. Movement distance in males was negatively correlated with body size at first capture in spring (small males dispersed further). Moreover, differences in body size between dispersing males and the body size of the male territory residents that they replaced were correlated with the distance that males dispersed. Relatively larger males dispersed shorter distances compared with relatively smaller males. There was no relationship between dispersal distance and body size in females. However, females were more likely to disperse away from areas of low female density and into areas of higher female density, and female dispersal distances were negatively correlated with the number of female neighbours at the site of capture in spring (before dispersal). 4. These data suggest that, whereas male dispersal is driven by inter-male competition, female dispersal is more likely related to variation in territory quality. 5. Natural selection acted on dispersal distance in conjunction with male, but not female body size. Although smaller males were the more likely to disperse, these males paid a high cost in terms of viability indicating that dispersal is a potentially risky strategy.