Animals with dominant breeding pairs- the giant otter

1. Animals with dominant breeding pairs- the giant otter Giant otters live in groups with one breeding pair. There is one dominant female in the group She has many offspring and is also the top fish catcher and the leader of the hunt. Developed by KZN advisors

2. Animals with dominant breeding pairs – Lions The advantages of dominant breeding pairs are: - offspring are cared for by many members of the group - dominant males and females are usually the strongest and most efficient members of the group, their genetic material will be carried to the next generation Developed by KZN advisors

3. The Southern ground hornbill The Southern ground-hornbill occurs from Kenya to southern Africa, living in a wide range of grassland, savannah woodland habitats. In South Africa, it is listed as Vulnerable, with an estimated population of just 1500-2000. It eats a wide range of food, especially animals, such as grasshoppers, frogs, mongooses and bird nestlings. It is a monogamous, cooperative breeder, with a group consisting of a dominant breeding pair and 0-9 helpers, who are usually either adult males, or juveniles from previous breeding seasons. It lays 1-2 eggs, which hatch in the sequence laid, meaning that the one chick is 3-14 days older than the other chick. The younger chick is unable to compete for food with its older sibling, and dies of starvation when it is rarely 3-4 weeks old. Current conservation measures include hand-rearing of the otherwise redundant second born chicks, captive breeding and reintroduction. Developed by KZN advisors

4. Dominant breeding pairs - meerkat Meerkats are facultative monogamous, which means that they breed with only one other member of the opposite sex. The female does not depend on the male for help raising the pups. She depends instead on kin and non-kin helpers. Cooperation in meerkat breeding is obligate because the breeding female cannot reproduce and raise offspring without help. Subordinate meerkats occasionally breed, but the dominant pair is always responsible for the majority of reproduction. Developed by KZN advisors

5. The alpha pair mates for life, though life span is limited by predation. Turnover in the dominant male position is higher than in females because males are more likely to leave the territory, and meerkats off of their territory are likely to be preyed upon. The mating pair shares little or no relatedness Availability of resources limits meerkat breeding. Rainfall triggers breeding because rain increases plant life which in turn increases the population of arthropods that serve as meerkats’ prey. In fact, reproductive success for a band as a whole depends directly on the amount of rain during the rainy season Because rainfall is unpredictable, breeding meerkats must have a mate at all times so that they don’t miss any breeding opportunities. If they had to spend part of the rainy period wooing a mate, they would run the risk of breeding too late into the season. The rain and the corresponding increase in arthropod abundance would end before the critical period of offspring growth, or even before the birth of the offspring. Reproduction also depends on the presence of helpers. Meerkats are monogamous because there are only enough helpers for one litter. With only one litter, there can be only one breeding female, and competition for the position results. The breeding female has her choice of males, and she chooses the one with the best genes. He proves himself to her by competing for and attaining the alpha male position. Developed by KZN advisors

6. Bees live in a colony with division of labour There is one queen to each colony, and she is much larger in size than the other bees. Her main task is to lay eggs. Reproduction can take place only by means of the queen, and no other females are able to mate with the drone males. In addition to laying eggs, the queen also secretes important communicative substances that maintain the unity of the colony Honey bee eggs hatch regardless of whether they are fertilized. Drones develop only from unfertilized eggs. Unfertilized eggs are haploid in origin, which means that they contain only 16 chromosomes from their mother. Honey bees are a haplo-diploid species, in which drones have haploid cells and workers and queens have diploid cells Developed by KZN advisors

7. The drones are larger than the female workers, though they lack stings and the necessary organs to collect food for themselves. Their only function is to fertilize the queen. The worker bees perform all such other tasks that you might imagine, including making the waxen combs in the hive, gathering food, producing royal jelly, regulating the temperature in the hive, cleaning it of debris and defending it Developed by KZN advisors

8. Identify the different members of a bee colony: Developed by KZN advisors

9. Some pollen collect in a packet around their legs Developed by KZN advisors

10. Nectar and pollen is stored as honey Developed by KZN advisors

11. Honey is stored to feed the developing embryos Developed by KZN advisors

12. Developing larvae: responsibility for caring for the larvae falls to the worker bees in the hive, which prepare incubation cells in a region specially set aside in the combs where the queen can lay her eggs Developed by KZN advisors

13. Worker bees feed the newly-hatched larvae with great care and selflessness. In fact, it has been established that worker bees will visit any single larva some 10,000 times during its period of growth. For the first three days after they hatch, the larvae are fed on royal jelly. During this larval stage, the young bees are fed constantly and undergo their greatest physical development. As a result of their regular feeding during this phase, the larvae's weight increases by up to 1,500 times in only six days. Developed by KZN advisors

14. Workers have a special wagging dance with which they communicate with other workers on the distance and direction of food sources Developed by KZN advisors

15. Division of labour among members of a colony, e.g. an ant colony Sociality is more advanced in bees, ants, and termites. As a rule, only one female (a queen) lays eggs in a colony, and numerous workers are sterile. Workers are involved in other functions like construction, defence and taking care of juveniles. They often have a division of labour and corresponding morphological differences. Developed by KZN advisors

16. Termites with different members and division of labour This picture shows some forms (casts) of termites. Social insects have very complicated behaviour. Their success largely depends on coordinated actions of many individuals. For example, leaf-cutting ants have underground fungus gardens. Ants bring foliage to this garden and collect fungus for food. This is insect agriculture! Developed by KZN advisors