Hyena Mothers Give Their Cubs A Helpful Dose Of Hormones

ScienceDaily: Hyena Mothers Give Their Cubs A Helpful Dose Of Hormones

Among spotted hyenas, being a supermom is less about packing lunches, and more about packing a hormonal punch that gives her cubs a powerful head start.

In a study appearing in the April 26 edition of the international science journal Nature, Michigan State University zoology professor Kay Holekamp and her former graduate student Stephanie Dloniak along with Jeffrey French from the University of Nebraska, report that high-ranking, dominant spotted hyena mothers pass to their offspring high levels of certain hormones that make cubs more aggressive and sexually vigorous – in other words more likely to survive, thrive and reproduce…

“This research sheds light on mammalian reproductive biology and helps us imagine how evolution might have produced such a bizarre product,” Holekamp said

Are we sure it’s bizarre?

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