Fig. 1: Normative status differences in androgen concentrations and behavioural rates from early pregnancy to post-parturition in wild meerkats. | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: Normative status differences in androgen concentrations and behavioural rates from early pregnancy to post-parturition in wild meerkats.

From: An intergenerational androgenic mechanism of female intrasexual competition in the cooperatively breeding meerkat

Fig. 1

Concentrations of a serum androstenedione (A4), b serum testosterone (T) and c faecal androgen metabolites (fAm), as well as hourly rates of d initiating food competition, e initiating high-intensity aggression (HIA) and f receiving prosocial overtures vary in meerkat dams by status (dominant: purple; subordinate: teal) and by pregnancy stage (early, mid and late pregnancy, plus the first two weeks postpartum: EP, MP, LP and PP, respectively). Vertical dashed lines separate mean + s.e. values overall from those by pregnancy stage. Analyses performed on 187 biological samples from 53 dams and 1174 focal observations during 48 pregnancies of 37 dams. GLMMs (or LMM in c), with two-tailed χ2, showed greater endocrine and behavioural values in dominant than subordinate dams throughout; least significant differences (LSD) showed greatest endocrine values in LP (for dominant and subordinate dams combined); significant P values in grey. (Icons of pregnancy stages drawn by S. Bornbusch). See Supplementary Fig. 2 for the distribution of raw endocrine data. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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