Animal offspring may survive better when their groups are in greater conflict with rival factions, research from the University of Bristol has shown for the first time.
Animal offspring may survive better when their groups are in greater conflict with rival factions, research from the University of Bristol has shown for the first time.
Battles between competing groups can lead to serious injury or death, and intergroup conflict has always been thought to have a negative effect on reproductive success.
But findings published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B turn that long-held belief on its head.
Using a decade of life-history data from a wild population of dwarf mongooses, University of Bristol researchers found that pup survival rate actually increased when the cumulative threat of conflict with rival groups was greater.
Lead author Dr. Amy Morris-Drake, from Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, said, „Groups engaged in more intergroup interactions did not produce more young.
