Maternal androgens shape vocal begging patterns in meerkats, providing competitive advantages in dominant matrilines.

Maternal effects provide a non-genomic pathway by which individual phenotypes shape offspring traits. Consistent with this phenomenon, we previously found that socially and experimentally mediated variation in maternal androgen action in the meerkat (Suricata suricatta) - a female-dominant, cooperatively breeding mongoose - influenced the developmental pace of offspring vocalisations, with increased prenatal androgen exposure accelerating their transition between different call types. Here, we test for effects on the fine-scale, temporal structure of two types of begging vocalisations: repeat and digging calls. We measured call durations, inter-call intervals, and call rates in offspring of dominant control (DC; high-testosterone), subordinate control (SC; lower-testosterone), and dominant treated (DT; blocked-testosterone) females, that had received an antiandrogen during late gestation. DC offspring, especially daughters, displayed the most intense begging, producing calls at the highest rates and with the shortest intervals, potentially enhancing the caller's likelihood of being provisioned; DC daughters also showed the steepest decline in call intensity whilst learning to forage. Conversely, SC and DT offspring displayed less intense, potentially less effective, calls that may have delayed nutritional independence. These intergenerational effects show that maternal androgens can mediate resource acquisition strategies by modifying the temporal structure of begging vocalisations in a wild mammal. Moreover, these competitive advantages were reinforced along dominant matrilines, most notably among daughters, offering new insights into the evolutionary significance of female hormonal 'masculinisation'.

Duke Scholars

Author Christine M. Drea Evolutionary Anthropology