Low food availability during gestation enhances offspring post-natal growth, but reduces survival, in a viviparous lizard.

The environment experienced by a mother can have profound effects on the fitness of her offspring (i.e., maternal effects).

Maternal effects impact decision-making in a viviparous lizard.

Stressful conditions experienced during early development can have deleterious effects on offspring morphology, physiology and behaviour. However, few studies have examined how developmental stress influences an individual's cognitive phenotype. Using a viviparous lizard, we show that the availability of food resources to a mother during gestation influences a key component of her offspring's cognitive phenotype: their decision-making.

Family aggression in a social lizard.

The evolution of family living is underpinned by conflict and cooperation between family members. While family groups can be maintained by reducing conflict between parents and offspring, interactions between siblings may play an equally important role. Here, we compared the level of aggressive interactions between siblings to that between parents and their offspring in the family living skink Liopholis whitii.