Prevalence of allosuckling behaviour in Subantarctic fur seal pups

• Published in: Mammalian Biology
• Main Authors: De Bruyn, P.J. Nico, Cameron, Elissa Z., Tosh, Cheryl A., Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan, Reisinger, Ryan Rudolf, Mufanadzo, N. Thomas, Phalanndwa, Mashudu V., Postma, Martin, Wege, Mia, Van der Merwe, Derek S., Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2010
• Subjects: Arctocephalus tropicalis; Milk-theft; Subantarctic fur seal pups; Offspring; Seals (Animals) > Food > Prince Edward Islands > Marion Island; Lactation; Parental behavior in animals; Marion Island; Prince Edward Islands
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2263/12856; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2009.11.004

Non-offspring maternal care should be rare due to the high costs of raising offspring, particularly lactation, but nonetheless occurs in a variety of taxa. Misguided parental care, associated with recognition errors and/or in attentiveness by lactating females, has been hypothesized as an explanation for all olactation in mammals. In an extension of this hypothesis, we suggest that milk-stealing is parasitism instigated by non-filial offspring, and that maternal behaviour is of secondary interest in an evolutionary context if she is unaware of the interaction. We provide evidence for frequent milk-stealing attempts by Subantarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis) pups, including an example of sustained non-maternal care (4 three months) for one pup during the confirmed absence of his mother, leading to a weaning massequal to the population mean. We also present only the second account of fostering/twins in the species at this locality. We suggest that rather than the hitherto suggested rare and anomalous behaviour, milk-stealing behaviour (while not always successful) is common.