Dataset Information

The impact of paternity on male-infant association in a primate with low paternity certainty.

ABSTRACT: In multimale groups where females mate promiscuously, male-infant associations have rarely been studied. However, recent studies have shown that males selectively support their offspring during agonistic conflicts with other juveniles and that father's presence accelerates offspring maturation. Furthermore, it was shown that males invest in unrelated infants to enhance future mating success with the infant's mother. Hence, infant care might provide fitness gain for males. Here, we investigate male-infant associations in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), a primate with low paternity certainty as females mate with multiple partners and males ensure paternity less efficiently through mate-guarding. We combined behavioural data with genetic paternity analyses of one cohort of the semi-free-ranging population of Cayo Santiago (Puerto Rico) and recorded affiliative and aggressive interactions between focal subjects and adult males from birth to sexual maturation (0-4 years) of focal subjects. Our results revealed that 9.6% of all interactions of focal subjects involved an adult male and 94% of all male-infant interactions were affiliative, indicating the rareness of male-infant aggression. Second and most interestingly, sires were more likely to affiliate with their offspring than nonsires with unrelated infants. This preference was independent of mother's proximity and emphasized during early infancy. Male-infant affiliation rose with infant age and was pronounced between adult males and male rather than female focal subjects. Overall, our results suggest that male-infant affiliation is also an important component in structuring primate societies and affiliation directed towards own offspring presumably represent low-cost paternal care.

SUBMITTER: Langos D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3800749 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The impact of paternity on male-infant association in a primate with low paternity certainty.

Langos Doreen D Kulik Lars L Mundry Roger R Widdig Anja A

Molecular ecology 20130517 13

In multimale groups where females mate promiscuously, male-infant associations have rarely been studied. However, recent studies have shown that males selectively support their offspring during agonistic conflicts with other juveniles and that father's presence accelerates offspring maturation. Furthermore, it was shown that males invest in unrelated infants to enhance future mating success with the infant's mother. Hence, infant care might provide fitness gain for males. Here, we investigate ma ...[more]

PMID: 23682587

Similar Datasets

Project description:ABSTRACT:In promiscuous primates, interactions between adult males and infants have rarely been investigated. However, recent evidence suggests that male affiliation towards infants has an influence on several aspects of the infants' life. Furthermore, affiliations may be associated with male reproductive strategy. In this study, we examined which social factors influenced male-infant affiliation initiated by either male or infant, in wild crested macaques (Macaca nigra). We combined behavioral data and genetic paternity analysis from 30 infants living in three wild groups in Tangkoko Reserve, Indonesia. Our results indicate that adult males and infants do not interact at random, but rather form preferential associations. The social factors with the highest influence on infant-initiated interactions were male rank and male association with the infant's mother. While infants initiated affiliations with males more often in the absence of their mothers, adult males initiated more affiliations with infants when their mothers were present. Furthermore, males initiated affiliations more often when they were in the same group at the time the infant was conceived, when they held a high dominance rank, or when they had a close relationship with the mother. Interestingly, paternity did not affect male-infant affiliation despite being highly skewed in this species. Overall, our results suggest that adult males potentially associate with an infant to secure future mating with the mother. Infants are more likely to associate with a male to receive better support, suggesting a strategy to increase the chance of infant survival in a primate society with high infant mortality. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:We explore social relationships between males and infants in a promiscuous primate, the wild crested macaque. Our novel approach addresses the nature of affiliations both from males' and infants' perspectives. The results show that males and infants form preferential associations. Male-female affiliation, but not paternity, was a significant predictor of interactions initiated both by males and infants. Males initiated more interactions towards infants when the mother was in proximity, while infants initiated more interactions in her absence. Finally, high-ranking males were more likely to initiate interactions towards infants. We demonstrated that paternity is not a good predictor of male-infant affiliations, even in a species with a high reproductive skew and a relatively high confidence of paternity. Our paper is one of the first to show that infants are active agents in establishing and maintaining preferential relationships with males.

Dataset Information

The impact of paternity on male-infant association in a primate with low paternity certainty.

Publications

The impact of paternity on male-infant association in a primate with low paternity certainty.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets