A squirrel in my bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Out of context: Reply #53
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- kelpie0
http://www.bio.davidson.edu/peop…
Infanticide, the killing of conspecific infants, is a darker side to the nature of S. beldingi. In a study done by Paul Sherman at Tioga Pass in 1981, 8% of all juveniles (up to 28 days of age) were killed by other Belding’s ground squirrels. Sherman observed these gruesome incidences, and he describes the intruding squirrel dragging a squealing, squirming juvenile out of the nest burrow, and promptly killing it by biting its head. The killer will then occasionally eat the carcass. Interestingly, only the non-related individuals drag nursing infants out of the nesting burrow and kill them, but all ages, sexes, and kinship classes occasionally assail juveniles that have been weaned. Adult females and one year old males are the most frequent killers. Significantly, none of the adult females that kill reside in the area where the infanticide occurred. On the other hand, young males often attack young that live near the burrow they inhabit. These males usually only kill one juvenile per incident. The young male will carry the body with it and eat it, and even occasionally defend it. Sherman hypothesizes that males will do this to grow stronger and gain weight at a higher rate in order to win more females during the next breeding season. Females, on the other hand, only commit infanticide if they have lost young in another area and have emigrated (which will often occur if females do not have relatives in the area when their litters are killed). Females will never kill relatives, they seldom eat their victims, and they will not fight for the body as often as males. Because females kill more female young, Sherman suggests that females practice infanticide to eliminate competition for nest burrows. Sherman supports his hypotheses by determining that the frequency of infanticide is not related to population density, not all ages and sexes kill equally, and related young aren't killed. (Sherman 1981 b)
nasty pieces of work.