Bădescu Iulia, Sicotte Pascale, Ting Nelson, Wikberg Eva C
Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Am J Primatol. 2015 Apr;77(4):376-87. doi: 10.1002/ajp.22353. Epub 2014 Nov 14.
Primate females often inspect, touch and groom others' infants (natal attraction) and they may hold and carry these infants in a manner resembling maternal care (infant handling). While natal attraction and infant handling occur in most wild colobines, little is known about the factors influencing the expression of these behaviors. We examined the effects of female parity, kinship, and dominance rank, as well as infant age and sex in wild Colobus vellerosus at Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Ghana. We collected data via focal sampling of females in 2008 and 2009 (N = 61) and of infants in 2010 (N = 12). Accounting for the individuals who interacted with our focal subjects, this study includes 74 females and 66 infants in 8 groups. We recorded female agonistic interactions ad libitum to determine dominance ranks. We used partial pedigree information and genotypes at 17 short tandem repeat loci to determine kinship. We knew female parity, infant age and sex from demographic records. Nulliparous females showed more natal attraction and infant handling than parous females, which may suggest that interactions with infants are more adaptive for nulliparous females because they learn mothering skills through these behaviors. Compared to non-kin, maternal kin were more likely to handle infants. Maternal kin may be permitted greater access to infants because mothers are most familiar with them. Handlers may incur inclusive fitness benefits from infant handling. Dominance rank did not affect female interactions with infants. The youngest infants received the most natal attraction and infant handling, and male infants were handled more than female infants. The potential benefits of learning to mother and inclusive fitness, in combination with the relatively low costs of natal attraction and infant handling, may explain the high rates of these behaviors in many colobines.
灵长类雌性动物常常检查、触摸并照料其他个体的幼崽（出生吸引），而且它们可能会以类似母性照料的方式抱持和携带这些幼崽（幼崽照料）。虽然出生吸引和幼崽照料在大多数野生疣猴中都会出现，但对于影响这些行为表现的因素却知之甚少。我们在加纳的博阿本-菲耶马猴子保护区，研究了野生白腹白眉猴中雌性动物的胎次、亲缘关系、优势等级，以及幼崽的年龄和性别对这些行为的影响。我们在2008年和2009年通过对雌性动物（N = 61）进行焦点取样，以及在2010年对幼崽（N = 12）进行焦点取样来收集数据。将与我们的焦点研究对象互动的个体计算在内，本研究涵盖了8个群体中的74只雌性动物和66只幼崽。我们随意记录雌性动物的争斗互动以确定优势等级。我们利用部分谱系信息和17个短串联重复位点的基因型来确定亲缘关系。我们从种群统计学记录中了解雌性动物的胎次、幼崽的年龄和性别。未生育的雌性动物比已生育的雌性动物表现出更多的出生吸引和幼崽照料行为，这可能表明与幼崽的互动对未生育的雌性动物更具适应性，因为它们通过这些行为学习育儿技能。与非亲属相比，母系亲属更有可能照料幼崽。母系亲属可能被允许更多地接触幼崽，因为母亲对她们最为熟悉。照料者可能会从照料幼崽中获得广义适合度收益。优势等级并未影响雌性动物与幼崽的互动。最年幼的幼崽受到的出生吸引和幼崽照料最多，而且雄性幼崽比雌性幼崽受到的照料更多。学习育儿的潜在益处和广义适合度，再加上出生吸引和幼崽照料相对较低的成本，可能解释了许多疣猴中这些行为的高发生率。
