Parental care
Dog mothers can be quite caring, and they often attack people when they feel their pups to be threatened. We have embarked on a long term project to study parental care in the dogs, and some of our recent results are quite fascinating. Manabi follows mothers and their pups from the day of birth of the litter till they are three months old. This is not an easy task, as many of her samples die, and she has to keep looking for new ones, and the wait is sometimes a year long. She not only observed parental care, but also conducts experiments to test levels of conflict over extended parental care between the mother and her pups. Together, Manabi and Sreejani have conducted experiments that conclusively prove the existence of parent-offspring conflict over extended parental care in the dogs, and our results fit the model proposed by Trivers (1974). Interestingly, while mothers can be selfish, grandmothers can be altruistic, suggesting communal breeding in the dogs, where related females help each other to raise their offspring. The first such observation led to extensive field work, and we now have more proof that points in this direction, opening up a new vista of enquiry.
We probe into the private lives of dogs using mostly our eyes, some times aided by cameras and binoculars. In the field, we never forget to carry a notebook, a pen and our brains! Our research involves behavioural observations, population level sampling and manipulative experiments. We study dogs in their natural habitat, i.e., on streets, and do not maintain individuals in captivity. Currently we are also not involved in studying dogs in shelters are kennels or pets, but we look forward to doing so in the near future.
PHOTOS/VIDEOS
FRIENDS
Funded projects:
- Behavioural Ecology of the Indian Stray Dog Canis familiaris. Funded by CSIR, India, April 2010 - September 2013, Rs.22,02,000/-
- Understanding aggression and its correlates in the Indian feral dog Canis familiaris. Funded by INSA, June 2010 - June 2013, Rs.1,50,000/-
- Parental care and social dynamics in free-ranging dogs in India. Funded by DST under the FASTTRACK scheme, August 2013 - August 2016, Rs.14,00,000/-.
- Mating dynamics, territoriality and social organization in the Indian free-ranging dog, Canis lupus familiaris. Funded by SERB, DST, under the Women Excellence award scheme, September 2013 - September 2016, Rs.18,00,000/-.
