Parturition in a free-ranging Japanese monkey (Macaca fuscata)

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Parturition behavior of a multiparous female and her interactions with group members throughout the birth process were recorded for a free-ranging Japanese monkey (Macaca fuscata).The female showed evidence of 18 contractions during the 35 min prior to delivery, with a mean duration and a mean intercontraction interval of 30 sec and 96 sec, respectively. These values were similar to those in individually caged Japanese monkeys. Some adult females remained in proximity to the female who was giving birth during the prepartum phase, and her 2-year-old daughter watched the delivery of the infant. Even during the prepartum phase the female moved in order to keep up with the group which traveled from the feeding site to a sleeping site in the forest.

Female sociality during the daytime birth of a wild bonobo at Luikotale, Democratic Republic of the Congo

“…Despite this paucity of observations of parturition in the wild, there is an increasing and disproportionate body of evidence comprising various species of nonhuman primates which suggests that birth may occur in a social context more regularly than was previously thought (e.g. Dunbar and Dunbar 1974;Oppenheimer 1976;Stewart 1977;Goodall and Athumani 1980;Nigi 1982;Sekulic 1982;Chism et al 1983;Kinnaird 1990;Nakamichi et al 1992;Condit and Smith 1994;Gorzitze 1996;Kiwede 2000;Ruiz et al 2004;Dias 2005;Kumar et al 2005;Camargo and Ferrari 2007;Peker et al 2009;Turner et al 2010;Yao et al 2012;Ding et al 2013;Deluycker 2014).…”

Births in Captive Stump-Tailed Macaques (Macaca arctoides)

“…Gouzoules [1974] reported that a female M. arctoides took less than 15 min starting from the first observed signs of labour to parturition, in spite of vigorous disturbances caused by the group members, including her own son. Although vocalization by the mother [Gouzoules, 1974;Dias, 2005;Kumar et al, 2005;Turner et al, 2010], by the infant [Brandt and Mitchell, 1973;Nakamichi et al, 1992] and by both mother and infant [Ratnayeke and Dittus, 1989] has been reported in a number of primate species; none of the 3 mother-infant dyads observed in this study vocalized at any point during data collection over the complete birth period.…”

“…In the present study, duration of contractions lasted for 2-12 s and the mean intercontraction intervals were 9 min 20 s (birth 1), 56 min 45 s (birth 2), and 2 min 53 s (birth 3). The mean duration of contraction and the mean intercontraction interval in the parturient female Japanese macaque was reported to be 30 and 96 s, respectively [Nakamichi et al, 1992]. Brandt and Mitchell [1973] mentioned that wild primates likely give birth away from the main group.…”

Observation of Periparturitional Behaviour in Wild Yakushima Macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui)

“…Most births in wild-living macaque species occur at night [1,2,9], but day births have also been reported [1][2][3]. The need of the birth-giving female for spatial isolation from the troop [1][2][3] -and therefore from the observer -might be one explanation for the diffi culty in observing a diurnal birth in wild macaques, even though many more may have occurred. For a wild female macaque, one benefit of parturition in the early morning hours or during the daytime is that she is soon able to resume feeding.…”

“…Descriptions of parturitional behaviour are available for semi-freeranging macaques (Macaca sylvanus, Macaca fuscata fuscata) [2,3] and for captive macaque species (Macaca arctoides, Macaca mulatto, Macaca nemestrina, Macaca fascicularis) [4][5][6]. However, the topic of individual feeding of the birth-giving fe male has lagged behind other areas of research on periparturitional behaviour, as it is impossible to observe with captive or provisioned/semi-free animals, which do not have the natural variety of food choice.…”