article · The American Naturalist
Long-term behavioural research on wild spotted hyenas reveals that infanticide committed by adult females is a major driver of juvenile death. Drawing on 30 years of observation across multiple groups, the study quantified the role of infanticide in population dynamics and examined the ecological pressures driving it. Although witnessed infrequently, the behaviour was responsible for nearly a quarter of all juvenile mortality, meaning one in ten hyena cubs died because of infanticidal attacks. Adult females were the killers in every documented occurrence, targeting young of either sex. An evaluation of evolutionary explanations showed that this behaviour most strongly reflects direct competition for social status among different maternal lines within the group.
Understanding the causes of mortality in social carnivores provides vital context for how group living and competition evolve. By showing that female-driven infanticide significantly limits cub survival, this work helps wildlife researchers understand the internal population pressures and social dynamics that shape carnivore numbers over decades.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway or commercial use for this research, which constitutes basic behavioural ecology.
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AbstractSocial animals benefit from their groupmates, so why do they sometimes kill each other's offspring? Using 30 years of data from multiple groups of wild spotted hyenas, we address three critical aims for understanding infanticide in any species: (1) quantify the contribution of infanticide to overall mortality, (2) describe the circumstances under which infanticide occurs, and (3) evaluate hypotheses about the evolution of infanticide. We find that infanticide, although observed only rarely, is in fact a leading source of juvenile mortality. Infanticide accounted for 24% of juvenile mortality, and one in 10 hyenas born in our population perished as a result of infanticide. In all observed cases of infanticide, killers were adult females, but victims could be of both sexes. Of four hypotheses regarding the evolution of infanticide, we found the most support for the hypothesis that infanticide in spotted hyenas reflects competition over social status among matrilines.
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DOI: 10.1086/716636
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