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Communal winter nesting and food sharing in Taiga Voles

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Summary

  1. 1.

    In central Alaska, Taiga Voles live in communal groups of five to ten individuals (mean = 7.1) for eight months of the year. During this winter period, they share a common stored food cache.

  2. 2.

    Evidence from both field monitoring of nest temperatures and laboratory studies indicates that thermoregulatory advantages accrue from communal nesting. Cooperative defense against predators and food thieves probably also occurs.

  3. 3.

    Group members are generally not from the same immediate family, although occasionally female litter mates join the same group. Sex and age composition appear to be the result of random sampling of the population at large in late August.

  4. 4.

    We speculate that the non-relatedness of midden groups can be explained partly by a spreading of the risk against predation and/or inbreeding avoidance. However, this does not satisfactorily explain several aspects of this behavior.

  5. 5.

    The midden groups provide circumstances favorable to the operation of group selection.

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Author notes

  1. J. O. Wolff

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Virginia, 22901, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, 94720, Berkeley, California, USA

    J. O. Wolff & William Z. Lidicker Jr.

  2. Institute of Northern Forestry, USDA, 99707, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

    J. O. Wolff & William Z. Lidicker Jr.

Authors
  1. J. O. Wolff
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  2. William Z. Lidicker Jr.
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Wolff, J.O., Lidicker, W.Z. Communal winter nesting and food sharing in Taiga Voles. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 9, 237–240 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299877

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299877

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