What a dog's life ! The hyena's life is not always easy. Especially for those who are relegated to the bottom of the group hierarchy. Less well fed, more often sick, low-ranking hyenas suffer the wrath of the dominants, or more precisely the dominants. Because in their groups, females and their offspring, who are otherwise socially superior to males, are ranked in a dominance hierarchy.
This work, carried out by Alexandra Weyrich, head of the epigenetics research group in the department of evolutionary genetics at the Leibniz Institute-IZW in Berlin (Germany), allows us to better understand the implications of this process of domination in individuals. . The data was collected in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, and the study is published in the journal
Communications Biology
.
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Spotted hyenas are atypical carnivores in their social behaviors. Their organization is closer to that of primates…
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