Abstract
Large body size confers a competitive advantage in animal contests but does not always determine the outcome. Here we explore the trade-off between short-term achievement of high social status and longer-term life history costs in animals which vary in competitive ability. Using laboratory mice, Mus musculus, as a model system, we show that small competitors can initially maintain dominance over larger males by increasing investment in olfactory status signalling (scent-marking), but only at the cost of reduced growth rate and body size. As a result they become more vulnerable to dominance reversals later in life. Our results also provide the first empirical information about life history costs of olfactory status signals.
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Received: 15 December 1999 / Revised: 6 June 2000 / Accepted: 24 June 2000
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Gosling, L., Roberts, S., Thornton, E. et al. Life history costs of olfactory status signalling in mice. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 48, 328–332 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650000242
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650000242