Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The correlation between kinship and behaviour in non-human primates
- 2 Co-operation and reciprocity in birds and mammals
- 3 Kinship and fellowship in ants and social wasps
- 4 Successes and failures of parent–offspring recognition in animals
- 5 Kinship, kin discrimination and mate choice
- 6 Genetic components of kin recognition in mammals
- 7 Kin recognition in amphibians
- 8 Kin recognition cues of vertebrates
- 9 Recognizing kin: ontogeny and classification
- 10 Parental states as mechanisms for kinship recognition and deception about relatedness
- 11 Fetal learning: implications for the development of kin recognition
- 12 Information processing and storage during filial imprinting
- 13 The honey bee as a model kin recognition system
- 14 Mutual mother–infant recognition in humans
- Author index
- Species and common name index
- Subject index
8 - Kin recognition cues of vertebrates
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The correlation between kinship and behaviour in non-human primates
- 2 Co-operation and reciprocity in birds and mammals
- 3 Kinship and fellowship in ants and social wasps
- 4 Successes and failures of parent–offspring recognition in animals
- 5 Kinship, kin discrimination and mate choice
- 6 Genetic components of kin recognition in mammals
- 7 Kin recognition in amphibians
- 8 Kin recognition cues of vertebrates
- 9 Recognizing kin: ontogeny and classification
- 10 Parental states as mechanisms for kinship recognition and deception about relatedness
- 11 Fetal learning: implications for the development of kin recognition
- 12 Information processing and storage during filial imprinting
- 13 The honey bee as a model kin recognition system
- 14 Mutual mother–infant recognition in humans
- Author index
- Species and common name index
- Subject index
Summary
Introduction
The mechanisms of kin recognition have received much attention in recent years (e.g. reviews by Holmes & Sherman, 1983; Sherman & Holmes, 1985; Hepper 1986a; Waldman, 1987). However, most treatments of this topic have concentrated almost exclusively on the mechanisms by which animals are able to ‘recognize’ or classify conspecifics as either kin or nonkin. The signals or cues produced by animals and utilized by conspecifics to identify kin have, on the other hand, received only scant attention (but see Beecher, 1982; Hepper, 1986a; Waldman, 1987). Beecher (1982) stresses that ‘identification’ (the production of a signal that indicates the identity of the sender) is an important component of kin recognition which may have a significant impact on the fitness of the recipients of altruistic or nepotistic acts. Thus, discussions that focus only on the ‘recognition’ component of kin recognition address only one half of the question. An understanding of the ‘identification’ component and of the cues used for identification is essential if we are to develop a complete understanding of the mechanisms of kin recognition.
Halpin & Hoffman (1987) suggest that, in studying the cues used in kin recognition, two related but separate sets of questions need to be addressed: (1) whether the cues used for recognition are phenotypic labels shared by all genetic relatives (e.g. a family-specific label), or whether such cues are individually distinctive and, as such, provide no direct information on the genetic relatedness of conspecifics; and (2) whether the sensory cues used for kin recognition have a genetic basis or are environmentally acquired.
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- Kin Recognition , pp. 220 - 258Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991
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