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