Achenbach Gretchen G, Snowdon Charles T
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
Int J Primatol. 2002 Feb;23(1):179-189. doi: 10.1023/A:1013210226793.
We examined changes in weight for 10 captive adult male cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) from before the birth of infants through the first 16 weeks of infant life. Compared to before birth, males weighed significantly less in Weeks 1-4, 5-8, and 9-12 following the birth. Weights in Weeks 13-16 did not differ significantly from prebirth weights. Maximum weight loss for individual males ranged from 1.3 to 10.8% of prebirth body weight. Males in groups with fewer helpers lost significantly more weight than ones in groups with more helpers. For the 3 males that had no helper other than their mates, weight loss was particularly striking, ranging from 10.0 to 10.8% of their prebirth body weight. These results suggest that caring for infants is energetically costly, and that in this cooperatively breeding species, the presence of more individuals to share the burden of infant carrying reduces the cost to individual caregivers.
我们研究了10只圈养成年雄性棉顶狨猴（僧面猴）从婴儿出生前到婴儿出生后的前16周体重的变化。与出生前相比，出生后的第1 - 4周、第5 - 8周和第9 - 12周，雄性棉顶狨猴的体重显著减轻。第13 - 16周的体重与出生前体重没有显著差异。个体雄性棉顶狨猴的最大体重减轻幅度为出生前体重的1.3%至10.8%。帮手较少的群体中的雄性比帮手较多的群体中的雄性体重减轻得更多。对于3只除配偶外没有其他帮手的雄性棉顶狨猴，体重减轻尤为明显，幅度为其出生前体重的10.0%至10.8%。这些结果表明，照顾婴儿在能量上代价高昂，而且在这种合作繁殖的物种中，有更多个体分担照顾婴儿的负担会降低个体照顾者的成本。
