Pup Recruitment in a Eusocial Mammal—Which Factors Influence Early Pup Survival in Naked Mole-Rats?

Abstract

In eusocial insects, offspring survival strongly depends on the quality and quantity of non-breeders. In contrast, the influence of social factors on offspring survival is more variable in cooperatively breeding mammals since maternal traits also play an important role. This difference between cooperative insects and mammals is generally attributed to the difference in the level of sociality. Examining offspring survival in eusocial mammals should, therefore, clarify to what extent social organization and taxonomic differences determine the relative contribution of non-breeders and maternal effects to offspring survival. Here, we present the first in-depth and long-term study on the influence of individual, maternal, social and environmental characteristics on early offspring survival in a eusocial breeding mammal, the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber). Similarly to other mammals, pup birth mass and maternal characteristics such as body mass and the number of mammae significantly affected early pup survival. In this eusocial species, the number of non-breeders had a significant influence on early pup survival, but this influence was negative—potentially an artifact of captivity. By contrasting our findings with known determinants of survival in eusocial insects we contribute to a better understanding of the origin and maintenance of eusociality in mammals.

Keywords

• cooperative breeding
• eusociality
• offspring survival
• naked mole-rat
• <i>Heterocephalus glaber</i>
• Bathyergidae