Cooperative breeding is an excellent example of altruistic cooperation insocial groups. Domestic dogs have evolved from cooperatively hunting andbreeding ancestors, but have adapted to a facultatively social scavenginglifestyle on streets, and solitary living in human homes. Pets typically breedand reproduce under human supervision, but free-ranging dogs can provideinsights into the natural breeding biology of dogs. We conducted a five yearlong study on parental care of free-ranging dogs in India. We observedwidespread alloparenting by both adult males and females. Allomothers providedsignificantly less care that the mothers, but the putative fathers showedcomparable levels of care with the mothers. However, the nature of care varied;mothers invested more effort in feeding and allogrooming, while the putativefathers played and protected more. We were unsure of the relatedness of thepups with the putative fathers, but all the allomothers were maternal relativesof the pups, which provides support for both the benefit-of-philopatry andassured fitness returns hypotheses. Free-ranging dogs are not cooperativebreeders like wolves, but are more similar to communal breeders. Their breedingbiology bears interesting similarities with the human joint family system.
展开▼
