Table 4 Factors influencing the body weight achieved by pups by day 14.

From: Cryptic kin discrimination during communal lactation in mice favours cooperation between relatives

Effecta

Fixed effect

χ2

df

pb

Pups in first born litters

Communal litter size

−0.452 ± 0.068

21.87

1

<0.0001

Total female food intake

0.056 ± 0.012

14.69

1

0.0001

Pup sex

0.222 ± 0.077

7.96

1

0.005

Relatedness

0.985 ± 0.317

7.59

1

0.006

Proportion of partner milk adjustedc

0.721 ± 0.926

0.60

1

0.44

Mother weight (g)

0.006 ± 0.056

0.01

1

0.91

Partner mother weight (g)

0.081 ± 0.039

3.88

1

0.049

Pups in second-born litters

Pup age at day 14

0.513 ± 0.077

20.36

1

<0.0001

Communal litter size

−0.482 ± 0.064

25.51

1

<0.0001

Total female food intake

0.054 ± 0.011

16.44

1

<0.0001

Pup sex

0.135 ± 0.086

2.37

1

0.12

Relatedness

0.415 ± 0.232

2.99

1

0.084

Proportion of partner milk adjustedc

3.30 ± 0.997

9.20

1

0.002

Mother weight (g)

0.110 ± 0.032

8.45

1

0.004

Partner mother weight (g)

−0.096 ± 0.044

4.21

1

0.040

  1. aMixed-effects models include mother as a random effect. Data for all but one male pup from 16 litters (n = 44 first-born and n = 33 second-born litter pups in sister nests; n = 41 first-born and n = 40 second-born litter pups in unrelated female nests). One male pup from unrelated nest B with an abnormally large recorded weight was excluded as a strong outlier but made no difference to conclusions (see Statistics and Reproducibility section in Methods). For first-born litters, all pups were 14 days of age at day 14 so age was not included in the model.
  2. bValues in bolded text are statistically significant (p < 0.05).
  3. cProportion of milk gained from partner mother minus proportion of total maternal food intake.
Back to article page