Social structure in synanthropic populations of a murid rodent Mastomys natalensis in Senegal

Abstract

Sex-ratio in adults was significantly female-biased, and multiple captures involving ≥4 individuals (up to 13) were characterized by the small number of adult males involved (usually one per capture). Dyadic encounters between males revealed a high rate of aggressive behaviours. Observations suggest that these synanthropic populations are subdivided in polygynous units in which: 1) a part of males are evicted from the social group before their maturity, and 2) adult males of different social units display aggressive behaviour towards each other. -from Authors