Unstandardized breeding choice grouped by maternal litter

Banded mongooses play a delicate balancing act between incest and warfare. Some females have to choose between mating with a relative within their own social group or trying to sneakily mate with a male from a rival group during fights between groups. We show that females are more likely to mate with extra-group males when the risk of inbreeding within their group is high, but not all females get this opportunity for extra-group mating.