Cooperation and individuality among man-eating lions Export

@article{citeulike:6081022, abstract = {10.1073/pnas.0905309106 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 \^{a}€œman-eaters of Tsavo\^{a}€ 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 \^{I}´C and \^{I}´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.}, author = {Yeakel, Justin D. and Patterson, Bruce D. and Fox-Dobbs, Kena and Okumura, Mercedes M. and Cerling, Thure E. and Moore, Jonathan W. and Koch, Paul L. and Dominy, Nathaniel J.}, citeulike-article-id = {6081022}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0905309106}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/10/30/0905309106.abstract}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/10/30/0905309106.full.pdf}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19884504}, citeulike-linkout-4 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=19884504}, comment = {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 δ13C and δ15N 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. }, day = {10}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.0905309106}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, keywords = {lol}, month = {November}, number = {45}, pages = {19040--19043}, posted-at = {2009-11-06 14:59:28}, priority = {2}, title = {Cooperation and individuality among man-eating lions}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0905309106}, volume = {106}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:6081022 L3 - citeulike-article-id:6081022 N2 - 10.1073/pnas.0905309106 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 δC and δN 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. IS - 45 JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences EP - 19043 TI - Cooperation and individuality among man-eating lions VL - 106 SP - 19040 KW - lol N1 - 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 δ13C and δ15N 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. AU - Yeakel, Justin AU - Patterson, Bruce AU - Fox-Dobbs, Kena AU - Okumura, Mercedes AU - Cerling, Thure AU - Moore, Jonathan AU - Koch, Paul AU - Dominy, Nathaniel PY - 2009/11/10/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0905309106 ER -