Hanging with the boys – female Alpine marmots benefit from a bit of pre-natal testosterone
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - 12:02
in Biology & Nature
Alpine marmots (Marmota marmota) live in extended family groups of up to 20 individuals. The groups consist of a dominant territorial pair and a number of subordinate individuals, typically descendants of the dominant pair. Over a 14-year period, Klaus Hackländer of the Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna and Walter Arnold of the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology (FIWI), University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna investigated the lifetime reproductive success (typically measured by the number of offspring) of female Alpine marmots in a free-living population in Berchtesgaden National Park.