Kin Recognition in Mammals

Mammalian systems seem to rely primarily on odors reflective of MHC variability although some mammals (humans are a good example) use vocalizations and visual characteristics as well. Most of the work on mammals has been done on rodents, but there are some interesting studies of primates. Current studies on mammals focus largely on the role of the MHC (Penn and Potts, 1999), on more complexmammals like hyaenas and monkeys (Holekamp et al. 1999), and on a continued test of the phenotype matching hypothesis versus other hypotheses.

Ehman K.D., Scott M.E. 2001. Urinary odour preferences of MHC congenic female mice, Mus domesticus: implications for kin recognition and detection of parasitized males Anim, Behav. 62: 781-789

Heth, G. J. Todrank and R. E. Johnston. 1998. Kin recognition in golden hamsters: evidence for phenotype matching. Anim. Behav. 56:409-417.

Holekamp, K. E., E E. Boydston, M. Szykman, I. Graham, K J. Nutt, S. Birch, A. Piskiel, and M. Singh. 1999 Vocal recognition in the spotted hyaena and its possible implications regarding the evolution of intelligence. Anim. Behav. 58:383-395

Penn D.J., Potts W.K. 1999. The evolution of mating preferences and major histocompatibility complex genes
Am. Nat. 153:145-164

Yamazaki K, Beauchamp GK, Curran M, et al. 2000. Parent-progeny recognition as a function of MHC odortype identity
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 97: 10500-10502