36 research outputs found
Building Babies - Chapter 16
In contrast to birds, male mammals rarely help to raise the offspring. Of all mammals, only among rodents, carnivores, and primates, males are sometimes intensively engaged in providing infant care (Kleiman and Malcolm 1981). Male caretaking of infants has long been recognized in nonhuman primates (Itani 1959). Given that infant care behavior can have a positive effect on the infantâs development, growth, well-being, or survival, why are male mammals not more frequently involved in âbuilding babiesâ? We begin the chapter defining a few relevant terms and introducing the theory and hypotheses that have historically addressed the evolution of paternal care. We then review empirical findings on male care among primate taxa, before focusing, in the final section, on our own work on paternal care in South American owl monkeys (Aotus spp.). We conclude the chapter with some suggestions for future studies.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (HU 1746/2-1)
Wenner-Gren Foundation, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation (BCS-0621020), the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation, the Zoological Society of San Dieg
The evolution of pair-living, sexual monogamy, and cooperative infant care: Insights from research on wild owl monkeys, titis, sakis, and tamarins
âMonogamyâ and pair bonding have long been of interest to anthropologists and primatologists. Their study contributes to our knowledge of human evolutionary biology and social evolution without the cultural trappings associated with studying human societies directly. Here, we first provide an overview of theoretical considerations, followed by an evaluation of recent comparative studies of the evolution of âsocial monogamyâ; we are left with serious doubts about the conclusions of these studies that stem from the often poor quality of the data used and an overreliance on secondary sources without vetting the data therein. We then describe our field research program on four âmonogamousâ platyrrhines (owl monkeys, titis, sakis, and tamarins), evaluate how well our data support various hypotheses proposed to explain âmonogamy,â and compare our data to those reported on the same genera in comparative studies. Overall, we found a distressing lack of agreement between the data used in comparative studies and data from the literature for the taxa that we work with. In the final section, we propose areas of research that deserve more attention. We stress the need for more highâquality natural history data, and we urge researchers to be cautious about the uncritical use of variables of uncertain internal validity. Overall, it is imperative that biological anthropologists establish and follow clear criteria for comparing and combining results from published studies and that researchers, reviewers, and editors alike comply with these standards to improve the transparency, reproducibility, and interpretability of causal inferences made in comparative studies.Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; National Institutes of Agin
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Social patterns of food sharing in monogamous owl monkeys
Captive owl monkeys (Aotus nancymaae, A. azarai) share food frequently within both families and pairs. In this study food sharing was observed in seven mated pairs and four families (i.e., four mated pairs and their offspring). Patterns of food sharing were examined with respect to age class, sex, and the presence or absence of dependent offspring. Within families, most food transfers were from adult males to developing offspring. Adult males and females transferred food to their mates in caged pairs as well as in family units. Food interactions between adults are as likely to result in food transfers as those between adults and offspring. This pattern of food sharing between mates in a monogamous species may serve both nutritional and social functions that differ from those in polygamous species
The evolution of food sharing in primates
The aim of this study is to explain the occurrence
of food sharing across primates. Defined as the unresisted
transfer of food, evolutionary hypotheses have to explain
why possessors should relinquish food rather than keep it.
While sharing with offspring can be explained by kin
selection, explanations for sharing among unrelated adults
are more controversial. Here we test the hypothesis that
sharing occurs with social partners that have leverage over
food possessors due to the opportunity for partner choice in
other contexts. Thus, we predict that possessors should
relinquish food to potential mates or allies, who could
provide or withhold matings or coalitionary support in the
future. We used phylogenetic analyses based on both
maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches in a sample
of 68 primate species to test these predictions. The analyses
strongly indicate that (1) sharing with offspring is predicted
by the relative processing difficulty of the diet, as measured by the degree of extractive foraging, but not overall diet
quality, (2) food sharing among adults only evolved in
species already sharing with offspring, regardless of diet,
and (3) maleâfemale sharing co-evolved with the opportunity
for female mate choice and sharing within the sexes
with coalition formation. These results provide comparative
support for the hypothesis that sharing is âtradedâ for
matings and coalitionary support in the sense that these
services are statistically associated and can thus be selected
for. Based on this, we predict that sharing should occur in
any species with opportunities for partner choice