Behavior/Humans

Vixens Are Not Faithful

25% of the female foxes mate with more than one male

By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor

26th of July 2007, 10:36 GMT

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If you're a monogamy adept, do not try to find it in nature, too. Even in cases of classical monogamy, it has been proven that the brides go outside the wedlock.

The newest busted myth is that of the foxes. Researchers have considered foxes, wolves and coyotes (the dog like carnivores in the Canidae family) to be

monogamous, a breeding behavior that was considered to give offspring a better survival chance, as in monogamous couples, females receive all the support of the male in raising newborns to adulthood, from food to protection.

But the new research proves that the Arctic vixens cheat. The researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the University of Quebec at Rimouski employed a novel technique called microsatellite DNA fingerprinting for the genetic samples coming from 49 Arctic foxes trapped in dens on Bylot Island, Nunavut.

In 75% of the dens, fox cubs were the result of mating between a single male and female. But in 25 % of them, the offspring had different fathers. "The generalization that mating couples stuck together usually came from field observations. People would often see pairs of foxes together and so they would just assume that was their standard mating pattern." said researcher Lindsey Carmichael of the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Polyandry could be stimulated for various reasons, one of them being that monogamy means investing your genes in just one variant, and, just like gambling, he/she may be the best, right, not right or the worst.

"Having offspring from multiple fathers allows a female to increase the genetic variation in her cubs. This increase in variation improves the chances that at least one cub in a litter will have the right stuff genetically to survive long term in such a harsh and changing environment. Also, two males bringing food to her cubs is much more advantageous for her offspring than just one," explained Carmichael.

TAGS:

fox | monogamy | offspring | sex

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