Crognier E, Baali A, Hilali M K
C.N.R.S. and Université de la Méditerranée, Faculté de Medecine, Marseille, France.
Am J Hum Biol. 2001 May-Jun;13(3):365-73. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.1060.
"Helpers at the nest," usually offspring of a preceding litter who contribute by feeding the young to increase the reproductive success of a breeding pair, are known in many species of birds and mammals. Although similar behaviors were described by ethnological observations in several human societies, there is a lack of data on their existence and role. This study of 794 reproductive life histories of post-menopausal Berber women of Southern Morocco aims to provide such information. Results show that the presence of "probable helpers" in the household is related to higher fertility scores and is associated with improved survival of offspring to sexual maturity. In contrast to sparse observations from other human societies, there is no indication that child caretaking would be specific to eldest daughters. Although the association between offspring survival and helping patterns seems highly probable, there is no confirmation that child caretaking per se is the relevant variable. Contrary to nonhuman helpers at the nest, workloads of children range from housekeeping to light agricultural tasks, and are not focused on assisting younger siblings. The improvement of reproductive success is probably the result of multiple interactions, among which the network of kinship would play a role at both the levels of economy and reciprocal assistance.
“巢穴助手”通常是前一窝幼崽的后代，它们通过喂养幼崽来帮助繁殖对提高繁殖成功率，这种现象在许多鸟类和哺乳动物物种中都有发现。尽管在一些人类社会中，民族学观察也描述了类似行为，但关于它们的存在和作用的数据却很缺乏。这项对摩洛哥南部绝经后柏柏尔族妇女794份生殖生活史的研究旨在提供此类信息。结果表明，家庭中“可能的助手”的存在与较高的生育得分相关，并且与后代存活至性成熟的几率提高有关。与其他人类社会的稀少观察结果不同，没有迹象表明照顾孩子是长女特有的行为。尽管后代存活与帮助模式之间的关联似乎很有可能，但尚无证据证实照顾孩子本身就是相关变量。与巢穴中的非人类助手不同，孩子们的工作量从家务劳动到轻度农业任务不等，并不局限于协助年幼的兄弟姐妹。繁殖成功率的提高可能是多种相互作用的结果，其中亲属关系网络在经济和互助层面都可能发挥作用。
