The Matimba coalition

[Xiku_kutsu]

I found a study on this done on tigers in captivity: “We analyzed microsatellites to test and compare the genetic output of multiple male mating (simultaneous polyandry) and single male mating (monogamy) with a female in a captive population. Simultaneous polyandry resulted in heteropaternity in 66.7% observed litters.”
Also references other felines: “Cheetah and domestic cat have also shown high frequencies of heteropaternity litters, 43% and 80% respectively [6,34]” (https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10...5722-5.pdf)

80% for house cats surprised me. Anyways, I’m pretty sure heteropaternity for captive tigers is going to be higher than what we would see in wild tigers, because apparently all of the male tigers were basically placed in the same cage with the female and took turns. Not very tiger-like. But this frequency of heteropaternity could apply more to wild lionesses because they naturally mate with more males in closer succession. Reply