Co–Residence between Males and Their Mothers and Grandmothers Is More Frequent in Bonobos Than Chimpanzees

<div><p>In long–lived social mammals such as primates, individuals can benefit from social bonds with close kin, including their mothers. In the patrilocal chimpanzee (<i>Pan troglodytes</i> spp.) and bonobo (<i>Pan paniscus</i>), sexually mature males reside and reproduce in their natal groups and can retain post-dependency bonds with their mothers, while immatures of both sexes might also have their paternal grandmothers available. However, quantitative information on the proportion of males and immatures that co-reside with both types of these close female relatives is limited for both species. Combining genetic parentage determination and group composition data from five communities of wild chimpanzees and three communities of wild bonobos, we estimated the frequency of co-residence between (1) mature males and their mothers, and (2) immature males and females and their paternal grandmothers. We found that adult males resided twice as frequently with their mothers in bonobos than in chimpanzees, and that immature bonobos were three times more likely to possess a living paternal grandmother than were immature chimpanzees. Patterns of female and male survivorship from studbook records of captive individuals of both species suggest that mature bonobo females survive longer than their chimpanzee counterparts, possibly contributing to the differences observed in mother–son and grandmother–immature co-residency levels. Taking into account reports of bonobo mothers supporting their sons' mating efforts and females sharing food with immatures other than their own offspring, our findings suggest that life history traits may facilitate maternal and grandmaternal support more in bonobos than in chimpanzees.</p> </div

Female and male survivorship in captive bonobos and chimpanzees.

<p>The survivorship function is the probability of surviving discrete time intervals. (A) Adult captive bonobo females had significantly higher rates of survival than captive chimpanzee females (<i>P</i> – value from permutation procedure = 0.011). (B) Among adult males, bonobos showed only a trend to survive better then chimpanzees (<i>P</i> – value from permutation procedure = 0.060).</p

Probabilities of co-residence with mothers and grandmothers in bonobo and chimpanzee groups.

<p>Probabilities of (A) adolescent and adult male co-residency with their mother and (B) offspring co-residency with their paternal grandmother in social groups of free–living bonobos and chimpanzees. (A) When comparing both species, adult bonobo males had higher probabilities to live together with their mothers as compared to chimpanzees. No adolescent male was present in Taï Middle during our study period. (B) Estimated from all offspring with determined paternity, bonobo offspring had a higher chance to co-reside with their paternal grandmothers than observed in chimpanzees. *<i>P</i> – value from Mann–Whitney U–test < 0.05.</p

Supporting Alignment S1

All Sanger sequences generated for this study

Long PCR product - last 5 cycles with fusion primers

Sequencing of this amplicon was performed on a Pico Titer Plate using a GS FLX platform, according to manufacturer’s instructions (Roche Applied Sciences, Penzberg, Germany). Reads still comprise fusion primer sequences (forward 5'-CGTATCGCCTCCCTCGCGCCATCAGAGACGCACTCCGGTTGGGGTGACCTCGGA-3, reverse 5'-CTATGCGCCTTGCCAGCCCGCTCAGAGACGCACTCAGATAGAAACCGACCTGGAT-3')

Short PCR product - last 5 cycles with fusion primers

Sequencing of this amplicon was performed on a Pico Titer Plate using a GS FLX platform, according to manufacturer’s instructions (Roche Applied Sciences, Penzberg, Germany). Reads still comprise fusion primer sequences (forward 5'-CGTATCGCCTCCCTCGCGCCATCAGAGACGCACTCCGGTTGGGGTGACCTCGGA-3, reverse 5'-CTATGCGCCTTGCCAGCCCGCTCAGAGACGCACTCGCTGTTATCCCTAGGGTAACT-3')

Short PCR product - all cycles with fusion primers

Sequencing of this amplicon was performed on a Pico Titer Plate using a GS FLX platform, according to manufacturer’s instructions (Roche Applied Sciences, Penzberg, Germany). Reads still comprise fusion primer sequences (forward 5'-CGTATCGCCTCCCTCGCGCCATCAGAGACGCACTCCGGTTGGGGTGACCTCGGA-3, reverse 5'-CTATGCGCCTTGCCAGCCCGCTCAGAGACGCACTCGCTGTTATCCCTAGGGTAACT-3')

Short adenovirus (hexon sequences) derived from great ape and human fecal samples

This FASTA file comprises 582 sequence

Additional file 1 of Reported antibiotic use among patients in the multicenter ANDEMIA infectious diseases surveillance study in sub-saharan Africa

Additional file 1. Table of relevant country data and study sites (.pdf)