Mating Strategies

Meerkats are facultative monogamous, which means that they breed with only one other member of the opposite sex. The female does not depend on the male for help raising the pups. She depends instead on kin and non-kin helpers. Cooperation in meerkat breeding is obligate because the breeding female cannot reproduce and raise offspring without help. Subordinate meerkats occasionally breed, but the dominant pair is always responsible for the majority of reproduction.

Facultative Monogamy and Obligate Cooperation Meerkats are facultative monogamous. The alpha pair mates for life, though life span is limited by predation. Turnover in the dominant male position is higher than in females because males are more likely to leave the territory, and meerkats off of their territory are likely to be preyed upon. The mating pair shares little or no relatedness (Griffen et al., 2003). Availability of resources limits meerkat breeding. Rainfall triggers breeding because rain increases plant life which in turn increases the population of arthropods that serve as meerkats’ prey. In fact, reproductive success for a band as a whole depends directly on the amount of rain during the rainy season (Doolan and MacDonald, 1997, Zoology).
Because rainfall is unpredictable, breeding meerkats must have a mate at all times so that they don’t miss any breeding opportunities. If they had to spend part of the rainy period wooing a mate, they would run the risk of breeding too late into the season. The rain and the corresponding increase in arthropod abundance would end before the critical period of offspring growth, or even before the birth of the offspring. Reproduction also depends on the presence of helpers. Meerkats are monogamous because there are only enough helpers for one litter. With only one litter, there can be only one breeding female, and competition for the position results. The breeding female has her choice of males, and she chooses the one with the best genes. He proves himself to her by competing for and attaining the alpha male position.
Breeding meerkats depend on helping behavior to raise their pups. Cooperation is obligate because pups need constant care to survive. Meerkats produce large litters, and they often breed immediately after giving birth (Doolan and MacDonald, 1997, Zoology). The costs of gestation, lactation and pup care would be dangerously large if the alpha female undertook them alone (Scantlebury et al., 2002). To offset the energy that she loses, the female must forage more often, which means that she must spend more time away from the den. Helpers care for her pups during this time, allowing her to gain the weight that she needs to support her next litter (Doolan and MacDonald, 1997, Zoology). For more information on cooperative breeding, please see the section entitled “Helping Behavior.”

Mating by Outsiders and Subordinates
While subordinate meerkats do breed, they do not do so often, and their young seldom reach sexual maturity. Meerkats typically stay in their natal burrows, so subordinates are often related to the breeding pair. Incest avoidance plays a significant role in meerkat mating strategies, especially for subordinate females, who are less likely to emigrate than subordinate males (Doolan and MacDonald, 1996, Zoology: 240), and for dominant males, who are closely related to most subordinate females in the band.

Subordinate males rarely, if ever, father pups in their natal burrow. They reproduce after immigration into a foreign burrow, or they mate as outsiders on brief forays. When subordinate males mate with the dominant female, they tend to share paternity with the dominant male. Most pups born to subordinate females are fathered by subordinate males or by outsiders. The dominant male doesn’t mate with subordinate females because he is often their father (Griffen et al., 2003). Ultimately, subordinate breeding is opportunistic and depends on a variety of factors including age, rainfall, and the presence of non-kin meerkats of the opposite sex (Russell et al., 2003). For more information about subordinate breeding, please see the section entitled “Reproductive Suppression”

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This web site was completed by Katie Fitzpatrick in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Dr. Verna Case’s Biology 323, Animal Behavior, at Davidson College in the Spring Semester 2004.

Please direct all comments and questions to Katie Fitzpatrick at kafitzpatrick@davidson.edu