Infant care from adult males is unexpected in species with high paternity uncertainty. Still, males of several polygynandrous primates engage in frequent affiliative interactions with infants. Two non-exclusive hypotheses link male infant care to …
Individuals with more or stronger social bonds experience enhanced survival and reproduction in various species, though the mechanisms mediating these effects are unclear. Social thermoregulation is a common behaviour across many species which …
Strategic microhabitat selection allows animals in seasonally cold environments to reduce homeostatic energy costs, particularly overnight when thermoregulatory demands are greatest. Suitable sleeping areas may therefore represent important resources …
Investigating the repeatability of trait variation between individuals, that is the amount of individual variation in relation to overall phenotypic variation, indicates an upper level of heritability and reveals whether a given trait may be subject …
The wounding or death of a conspecific has been shown to elicit varied behavioral responses throughout thanatology. Recently, a number of reports have presented contentious evidence of epimeletic behavior towards the dying and dead among non-human …
In order to maintain regulatory processes, animals are expected to be adapted to the range of environmental stressors usually encountered in their environmental niche. The available capacity of their stress responses is termed their reactive scope, …
Spatial position within a group affects the value of group-living benefits such as reduced predation risk and improved foraging. The threat of predation, poor nutrition or increased competition from conspecifics can all cause stress. In many species, …
The Red Sea is among the world’s top marine biodiversity hotspots. We re-examined coastal ecosystems at sites surveyed during the 1980s using the same methodology. Coral cover increased significantly towards the north, mirroring the reverse pattern …
Gyrodactylus spp. infections of commercially farmed fishes are responsible for significant economic losses. Existing treatments have proved uneconomic, stressful to the fishes, and ecologically damaging. Essential oils are naturally occurring …