image: Mama's boys are not always losers. In spotted hyenas, the key to success for a young male is the number of young females present in the clan when he chooses his breeding clan because young females are those most likely to accept young males as sires. If the natal clan happens to contain more young females than any other clan, males stay at home. These mama's boys are as successful in siring young as males that disperse to another clan. The picture shows a group of young female hyenas in the Ngorongoro Crater teaming up to intimidate two lionesses and reclaim their kill. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the March 18, 2016 issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by E. Davidian at Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, and colleagues was titled, "Why do some males choose to breed at home when most other males disperse?" view more
Credit: © Oliver Höner