How to optimally allocate time, energy and investment in an effort to maximize one’s reproductive success is a fundamental problem faced by all organisms. This effort is complicated when the production of each additional ...

Animals communicating via scent often deposit composite signals that incorporate odorants from multiple sources however, the function of mixing chemical signals remains understudied. We tested both a ‘multiple-messages’ ...

Ancient population expansions and dispersals often leave enduring signatures in the cultural traditions of their descendants, as well as in their genes and languages. The international folktale record has long been regarded ...

Previous research has found that the presence of grandparents, particularly grandmothers, is often positively associated with child survival. Little research has explored the potential mechanisms driving these associations. ...

Behavioural plasticity can drive the evolution of new traits in animals. In oviparous species, plasticity in oviposition behaviour could promote the evolution of new egg traits by exposing them to different selective ...

There is increasing evidence that females can somehow improve their offspring fitness by mating with multiple males, but we understand little about the exact stage(s) at which such benefits are gained. Here, we measure ...

Humans divide themselves up into separate cultures, which is a unique and ubiquitous characteristic of our species. Kinship norms are one of the defining features of such societies. Here we show how norms of marital residence ...

The Omura’s whale (Balaenoptera omurai)was describedas a new species in 2003 and then soon after as an ancient lineage basal to a Bryde’s/sei whale clade. Currently known only from whaling and stranding specimens primarily ...

Tropical rainforests are known for their extreme biodiversity, posing a challenging problem in tropical ecology. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the diversity of tree species, yet our understanding of this ...

The species flocks of cichlid fishes in the East African Great Lakes are the largest vertebrate adaptive radiations in the world and illustrious textbook examples of convergent evolution between independent species ...