Tuesday 28 February 2017

Male poison frogs become cannibals after taking over territories

(University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna) Systematic 'infanticide' of unrelated young occurs in several animal species. For carnivores and primates, infanticidal actions are mainly sexually motivated. A study in Scientific Reports by researchers of Vetmeduni Vienna has shown for the first time that also male poison frogs selectively eat other males' offspring -- after having taken over their rivals' territories. They were thus able to demonstrate that even simple decision rules can mediate a complex behavioral pattern such as parental care.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2m3EM7b

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