Question

1. Living in a group could bring several disadvantages to an individual. What are some of the costs and benefits of group living for mammals?
2. Discuss alarm calls in Belding’s ground squirrels as an example of kin selection, and blood feeding of roost mates in vampire bats as an example of reciprocal altruism.
3. Give a mammalian example of how the environment and ecology of a species can a) prohibit, b) promote, or c) permit (allow) group formation. In the case where the environment only permits group formation (doesn’t force it), what else acts to create the groups?   
4. A couple twists on the above question could be: describe how the environment promotes sociality in yellow-bellied marmots, or discuss how variation in the ecology of mongooses (e.g., size, diet, nocturnal vs diurnal activity) relates to variation in group formation and sociality among species.

Answer 1

Ans 1 - Group living is defined as individuals of the same species, maintaining spatial proximity with one another over time with mechanisms of social attraction.