Primate Allomaternal Care

Abstract

Allomaternal care (AMC) (i.e., infant care that is provided by group members other than an infant's mother) is a rare, although phylogenetically widespread, mammalian infant care strategy. In primates, however, AMC occurs at unusually high frequencies, particularly among several haplorhine (monkey and ape) taxa. In fact, AMC is present in every major primate radiation and has been described in 74% of 154 species for which data are available. Its widespread presence in the Order Primates suggests that there may have been strong selective pressure for AMC early in primate evolution, but it is currently unknown why these behaviors are so common in primates. Research focused on captive callitrichids (tamarins and marmosets) has contributed greatly to our understanding of the potential causes and consequences of highly derived forms of AMC (i.e., cooperative breeding). Recent efforts have shifted focus to understand the selective pressures leading to the expansion and diversification of AMC throughout the Primate Order, thus expanding research to investigate the causes and consequences of less derived forms of AMC. Here we review the broad‐scale patterns observed in primates and outline innovative and exciting avenues of research moving forward.

Looking for unity in diversity: human cooperative childcare in comparative perspective

“…In figure 3, the white block contains the two core components of cooperative breeding in birds and mammals: help by breeding males and help by non-reproducing close kin. As noted above, in mammals, we can find cases where the breeding males do not help, but others provide care [18,21]. In addition, help may also be provided by others than older siblings or the sire (light grey) [15].…”

“…Allomothers may protect and babysit infants, which allows mothers to forage more efficiently. Examples include elephants [20], sperm whales [53] and primates, where non-mothers, including other females that are not close relatives, may show extensive infant carrying and babysitting [16,18,54]. Females make up the most common class of allomothers, especially but not exclusively adolescents [16].…”

“…The second context is allomaternal care in group-living mammals with plural breeding, such as elephants, coatis, dolphins, sperm whales and many primates, with quite variable paternal involvement. Researchers ask how much of which kind of help a breeding female receives in the form of provisioning, infant carrying or babysitting and what benefits she derives from this [16][17][18][19]. Importantly, this perspective acknowledges that help can be vital to immatures even if the costs to helpers are modest, as when an experienced female elephant helps the calf of another mother to move out of a ditch from which it could not escape without help [20].…”

Profiling caregivers: Hormonal variation underlying allomaternal care in wild red-bellied lemurs, Eulemur rubriventer

“…AMC varies quite a bit in form and type, and is particularly notable and wellstudied in cooperatively breeding species. In cooperative breeders, several caregivers (including babysitters, teachers, family members, and friends) may help a mother raise her offspring through habitually providing direct care and food to infants, and help is obligate [13][14][15][16]. Humans and callitrichines are the only primates that have cooperative breeding systems; AMC occurs nearly without fail [14].…”

Non-Maternal Infant Handling in Wild Formosan Macaques of Mount Longevity, Taiwan

“…Allomothering or allomaternal care is the handling of infants by individuals other than the mother, and this unique behaviour occurs widely in the order Primates [Isler and van Schaik, 2012] and has been described in 74% of 154 species to date [Chism, 2000;Tecot and Baden, 2015]. In addition to non-human primates, this behaviour occurs in various other species of animals as well [Hrdy, 1976;Riedman, 1982;Kohda, 1985;Lee, 1987;Emlen et al, 1991;Packer et al, 1992;Stanford, 1992;Ivey, 2000;Förster and Cords, 2005;Dugdale et al, 2010].…”