they emit alarm calls less frequently

[keannu]

1. Is "alarm calls" for helping other fellows or actually avoiding them?
2. Does "native females" mean the ones in the new group or the previous natal group?

mo25
ex) In Belding’s ground squirrels, males leave home and females mature in their natal area. This male-biased dispersal creates an imbalance in the way males and females are related to those individuals around them ― females find themselves surrounded by relatives, while males are generally in areas with complete strangers. This asymmetry translates into females who warn close kin by emitting alarm calls, while males generally do not emit calls since their dispersal from their natal areas means their blood kin typically do not benefit from such a warning. Further support for the kinship-based alarm-calling hypothesis includes Sherman’s finding that in the rare instances when females do move away from their natal groups and into groups with far fewer relatives, they emit alarm calls less frequently than do native females.

 

[SoothingDave]

1. They "warn close kin by emitting alarm calls."

2. Females who are native to an area versus those who have moved into the area.

 

[morningtrain]

Sorry for my interrupting, but I got a question.

"while males generally do not emit calls since their dispersal from their natal areas means their blood kin typically do not benefit from such a warning."

Say, males leave their natal area and then moves into other stranger groups. If they emit warning calls for their new groups, why wouldn't the native group get any benefit from the warning of the new-comers?

Would it be possible that they don't give any warning calls because they think the strangers aren't their blood kin, so it's useless or not necessary?

Any comment would be appreciated.

 

[SoothingDave]

They aren't interested in issuing warnings to anyone except their blood kin. The biological imperative is to protect you and yours, not to protect everyone in the species.