Animals may form groups for different reasons, and one major benefit of grouping in many species is reduced predation risk. In diurnal species, vigilance is used to detect predators, resulting in a trade-off between feeding ...

Personality traits overlap in behavioral syndromes that are assumed to be related to physiology and life history traits, shaping pace-of-life syndromes. Boldness and explorative behavior are frequently associated to higher ...

The ability to differentiate among conspecifics on the basis of genetic relatedness can be advantageous in kin and mate selection. Selection of mates that are of an intermediate degree of relatedness maximizes the propagation ...

Animals gather information about their environment from a variety of sources to enable adaptive decision-making behaviour. Eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm calls enhances predator avoidance, reduces time spent vigilant ...

Research on sociality in temperate ground-dwelling squirrels has focused on female philopatry and other life history trade-offs, which are influenced by constraints in the duration of the active growing season. Temperate ...

Predator harassment is an anti-predator behaviour that may increase an individual’s risk of predation, as individuals approach, threaten and harass a potential predator, yet this behaviour is still not well understood. The ...

Kin recognition can be important in species where inbreeding avoidance or nepotism (favouritism towards kin) rely on identifying kin, particularly in species with alloparental care. The mechanisms that facilitate kin ...

The immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH) proposes that testosterone has both beneficial effects on male reproductive potential and negative effects by suppressing the immune system. However, support for the ICHH ...

Burrowing and foraging of semi-fossorial rodents can affect species distribution and composition. Ground squirrels dig large burrow systems for refuge from predators and temperature extremes. Burrowing and foraging around ...