Squirrel cameo

“My Brother’s Keeper” by Kari Benson

Part IV—Sherman’s Conclusions

Females call disproportionately more often than predicted by their abundance. Adult females call more often than one-year-olds or juveniles. Males call disproportionately less than predicted by their abundance.

Questions

  1. Why might this be?
  2. How do these data compare to your predictions?
  3. Why would females call more than males?
  4. How should the proximity of relatives influence whether it is cost-effective to call?
  5. Consider the following: Females call more readily when they are close to other related individuals. Does this support the kin selection hypothesis?

Go to Part V—“Kin Recognition Mechanism”


Originally published at http://www.sciencecases.org/kin_selection/kin_selection4.asp

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