First occurrence of twins in provisioned free-ranging Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Huangshan, China

Abstract

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.

A Report on Multiple Births in Hanuman Langur (Semnopithecus Entellus) in and Around Jodhpur, Rajasthan

“…Multiple births frequently happen only in Callitrichids [11,12] and some species of Strepsirhines [13][14][15]. Although twinning does arise among most anthropoid primates, the frequency of twins' births is shallow [15][16][17].…”

Playing it cool: Characterizing social play, bout termination, and candidate play signals of juvenile and infant Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) 

“…In males, adulthood begins at approximately seven years of age ( Zhao & Deng, 1988 ). Tibetan macaques reproduce seasonally, and the number of offspring sired by a male is correlated with his dominance rank ( Thierry, 2011 ; Xia et al, 2012 ). Tibetan macaque social organization consists of multi-male, multi-female groups of 15–50 individuals, with a female-skewed sex ratio ( Berman et al, 2004 ; Li et al, 2007 ; Thierry et al, 2000 ; Thierry, 2011 ).…”

Effects of Hierarchical Steepness on Grooming Patterns in Female Tibetan Macaques (Macaca thibetana)

“…Researchers began monitoring and studying YA1 in 1986. The local government provisioned YA1 at the beginning of our study in order to open the reserve to ecotourism (Li et al, 1996;Berman and Li, 2002). YA2 naturally fissioned from YA1 in 1996 (Li et al, 1996).…”