| Cooperation and individuality among man-eating lions. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 19884504 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Cooperation is the cornerstone of lion social behavior. In a notorious case, a coalition of two adult male lions from Tsavo, southern Kenya, cooperatively killed dozens of railway workers in 1898. The "man-eaters of Tsavo" have since become the subject of numerous popular accounts, including three Hollywood films. Yet the full extent of the lions' man-eating behavior is unknown; estimates range widely from 28 to 135 victims. Here we use stable isotope ratios to quantify increasing dietary specialization on novel prey during a time of food limitation. For one lion, the delta(13)C and delta(15)N values of bone collagen and hair keratin (which reflect dietary inputs over years and months, respectively) reveal isotopic changes that are consistent with a progressive dietary specialization on humans. These findings not only support the hypothesis that prey scarcity drives individual dietary specialization, but also demonstrate that sustained dietary individuality can exist within a cooperative framework. The intensity of human predation (up to 30% reliance during the final months of 1898) is also associated with severe craniodental infirmities, which may have further promoted the inclusion of unconventional prey under perturbed environmental conditions. |
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Authors:
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Justin D Yeakel; Bruce D Patterson; Kena Fox-Dobbs; Mercedes M Okumura; Thure E Cerling; Jonathan W Moore; Paul L Koch; Nathaniel J Dominy |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Date: 2009-11-02 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Volume: 106 ISSN: 1091-6490 ISO Abbreviation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Publication Date: 2009 Nov |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2009-11-11 Completed Date: 2010-01-06 Revised Date: 2010-09-28 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7505876 Medline TA: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 19040-3 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. jyeakel@pmc.ucsc.edu |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Animals Behavior, Animal / physiology* Carbon Isotopes / analysis Collagen / chemistry Cooperative Behavior* Diet* Humans Kenya Keratins / chemistry Lions / physiology* Nitrogen Isotopes / analysis Predatory Behavior / physiology* |
| Chemical | |
Reg. No./Substance:
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0/Carbon Isotopes; 0/Nitrogen Isotopes; 68238-35-7/Keratins; 9007-34-5/Collagen |
| Comments/Corrections | |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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