Behavioral Ecology Blog

In an exceptionally interesting set of experiments (Published here) using wild banded mongooses in Uganda, Swiss researchers are providing an example contra to the popular “dear enemy” hypothesis***. They did a simple but clear experiment using artificially deployed scent marks from both neighbor groups and non-neighbor groups. In short- banded mongooses acted more aggressive towards neighbor scents- a finding researchers note might be typical in social carnivores.

Among other factors potentially responsible for this effect, they report that neighbors are potential usurpers of territory, and thus should not be trusted. In contrast strangers are usually just vagrant solitary individuals unlikely to pose a threat.

I shall simply note that this is not a pattern that is frequently observed in nature- taking humans as an example. Think to yourself; who would you be most alarmed by?

1. Your neighbor peering through your windows.
2. A stranger doing the same?

***The dear enemy hypothesis, 1^st proposed by Temeles in 1994, states that territorial animals are expected to be more aggressive towards strangers than with non-strangers (neighbors). This is a hypothesis that has received a fair amount of attention and empirical support.