Many bats are extremely social. In some cases, individuals remain together for years or even
decades and engage in mutually beneficial behaviours among non-related individuals …

The environment that an offspring experiences during its development can have lifelong
consequences for its morphology, anatomy, physiology and behaviour that are strong …

Wolves excitedly greet each other as members of the pack come together; a bumble bee
uses its long tongue to reach the nectar at the base of a foxglove flower; a mongoose swiftly …

Cooperative breeding systems are characterized by nonbreeding helpers that assist
breeders in offspring care. However, the benefits to offspring of being fed by parents and …

Life-history theory predicts that individuals should adjust their reproductive effort according
to the expected fitness returns on investment. Because sexually selected male traits should …

The evolution and expression of different forms of cooperative behaviour (eg feeding,
guarding, sentinel duties, etc.) are usually studied independently, with few studies …

1. In cooperative societies with high reproductive skew, selection on females is likely to
operate principally through variation in the probability of acquiring dominant status and …

Attempts to account for observed variation in the degree of reproductive skew among
cooperative breeders have usually assumed that subordinate breeding has fitness costs to …

Recent comparative studies show that cooperative breeding is positively correlated with
harsh and unpredictable environments and it is suggested that this association occurs …

While investment in territory defence is expected to be influenced by its benefits, the
additional role that costs may play is rarely considered. Here, we quantify both benefits and …