Dělba práce a polyethismus v koloniích sociálních rypošů

Eusocial species of African mole-rats live in groups cooperating on multiple tasks and employing division of labour. In captivity, individuals of the same group were found to differ in cooperative contribution as well as in preference for a particular task which is usually interpretted either as temporal polyethism or existence of behavioural castes. Studies describing these phenomenons based on observations of captive colonies suffer from methodological problems and their results are often contradictory, whereas studies on free-ranging mole-rats are few and limited by small sample sizes. In my thesis I review available literature on polyethism, division of labour and related penomenons in African mole-rats. Its general aim is to provide theoretical background for future laboratory experiments