Xia Dongpo, Li Jinhua, Matheson Megan D, Sun Lixing, Sun Binghua, Zhu Yong
School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China.
Primates. 2012 Jan;53(1):1-5. doi: 10.1007/s10329-011-0276-0. Epub 2011 Sep 18.
A first case of newborn Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana) twins was observed in a free-ranging group at Huangshan, China. The female that gave birth to the twins was studied during their first 5 months post-partum, and her activity budget was compared to those of adult females with single or no offspring in order to assess her behavioral changes. Our report shows that female Tibetan macaques can produce twins, and that twins can successfully survive. The adult female with twins spent more time foraging and resting, but less time moving and engaged in other social behaviors than adult females with a single infant or no infant. Our report provides a case of successfully surviving twins in a wild environment and suggests that the mother modified her behavior patterns to adapt to the heavy burden. We conclude that both food provisioning and the mother's behavioral strategies facilitated the survivorship of twins. This expands our understanding of the reproductive biology of Tibetan macaques.
在中国黄山的一个野生猕猴群体中，观察到了首例新生藏酋猴双胞胎。对产下这对双胞胎的雌性藏酋猴在产后的头5个月进行了研究，并将其活动预算与有单胎或无后代的成年雌性藏酋猴的活动预算进行了比较，以评估其行为变化。我们的报告显示，雌性藏酋猴能够产下双胞胎，并且双胞胎能够成功存活。与有单胎或无后代的成年雌性藏酋猴相比，带着双胞胎的成年雌性藏酋猴觅食和休息的时间更多，但移动和参与其他社交行为的时间更少。我们的报告提供了一个双胞胎在野生环境中成功存活的案例，并表明母亲改变了其行为模式以适应沉重的负担。我们得出结论，食物供应和母亲的行为策略都促进了双胞胎的存活。这扩展了我们对藏酋猴生殖生物学的理解。
