IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v440y2006i7085d10.1038_nature04578.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energetics reveals physiologically distinct castes in a eusocial mammal

Author

Listed:
  • M. Scantlebury

    (University of Pretoria)

  • J. R. Speakman

    (University of Aberdeen, School of Biological Sciences)

  • M. K. Oosthuizen

    (University of Pretoria)

  • T. J. Roper

    (University of Sussex
    University of Sussex)

  • N. C. Bennett

    (University of Pretoria)

Abstract

What about the workers Eusocial insects, such as ants and termites, have distinct ‘castes’ specialized for carrying out different tasks. Eusociality is extremely rare in mammals, and in the few species that do show it, there has been no clear evidence that the helpers are a distinct caste. Now in an experiment that measured energy expenditure in workers of a eusocial mole-rat, two distinct castes have been identified. ‘Frequent workers’ labour year-round helping to sustain the colony and allowing the queen to breed. ‘Infrequent workers’ accumulate body fat, do little work, and await suitable opportunities to disperse and reproduce. After rainfall the fat lazy caste becomes extremely active and expends more energy than the frequent workers.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Scantlebury & J. R. Speakman & M. K. Oosthuizen & T. J. Roper & N. C. Bennett, 2006. "Energetics reveals physiologically distinct castes in a eusocial mammal," Nature, Nature, vol. 440(7085), pages 795-797, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:440:y:2006:i:7085:d:10.1038_nature04578
    DOI: 10.1038/nature04578
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04578
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature04578?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yang Zhao & Zhizhong Zheng & Zhihui Zhang & Yandong Xu & Eric Hillpot & Yifei S. Lin & Frances T. Zakusilo & J. Yuyang Lu & Julia Ablaeva & Seyed Ali Biashad & Richard A. Miller & Eviatar Nevo & Andre, 2023. "Evolution of high-molecular-mass hyaluronic acid is associated with subterranean lifestyle," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:440:y:2006:i:7085:d:10.1038_nature04578. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.