Similarities in affiliation and aggression between cross‐fostered rhesus macaque females and their biological mothers

Abstract

In female-bonded primate species, there is cross-generational consistency in female affiliative and aggressive behavior. This consistency could be the result of maternal effects, offspring learning, shared environment, and/or direct genetic inheritance of behavioral or psychological traits. In this study, I investigated possible similarities in affiliation and aggression between cross-fostered rhesus macaque females and their biological mothers. Ten female infants were cross-fostered at birth, and selected aspects of their affiliative and agonistic behavior over the course of their first 3 years of life were compared to the behavior of their foster and biological mothers. Average offspring rates of social contact and aggression across the 3 years, and in particular in Years 2 and 3, resembled those of their biological mothers whereas no clear behavioral similarities between offspring and foster mothers were observed at any age. Heritable variation in female social behavior may be maintained by natural selection and leads to adaptation to different socioecological niches within macaque populations.

Intergenerational transmission of maternal behavior in rhesus macaques and its underlying mechanisms

“…The association between the daughters' contact-making behavior and that of their biological mothers, however, was not strong and mostly driven by one individual. Although this result is consistent with a previously reported correlation between the rate at which crossfostered females made contact with other group members in their first 3 years of life and the rate of affiliative contact-making by their biological mothers (Maestripieri, 2003), the current data do not allow us to conclude that contact-making behavior is transmitted from mothers to daughters through genetic mechanisms (see also Fairbanks, 1989). The possible genetic basis of this maternal behavior trait should be further investigated in future studies, for example, by analyzing with quantitative genetic methods interindividual variation in rates of contact-making behavior in large populations of monkeys of known pedigree.…”

Sex differences in learning the allocation of social grooming in infant stumptailed macaques

“…Primate mothers are recognized as a main referential model for a diversity of socially learned or reinforced behaviours (Altmann, 1980;Horvat & Kraemer, 1981;Wallen et al, 1981;Fairbanks & McGuire, 1986;Fairbanks, 1989;Berman, 1990Berman, , 2004McGrew, 1992;Tanaka, 1995;Huffman, 1996;de Waal, 1996;Berman et al, 1997;Tanaka, 1998;Berman & Kapsalis, 1999;Drapier & Thierry, 2002;Maestripieri, 2003;Weaver & de Waal, 2003;Lonsdorf et al, 2004;Schino et al, 2004;Weaver et al, 2004;Lonsdorf, 2005Lonsdorf, , 2006Suomi, 2005;Maestripieri et al, 2007). Mother-offspring attachment including close proximity provide the confidence and visual opportunities to use mother as a model, even if this might perpetuate behaviour of low efficiency (Tanaka, 1995(Tanaka, , 1998Drapier & Thierry, 2002) or abusive mothering styles prone to reduce fitness (Fairbanks, 1989;Berman, 1990;Maestripieri, 2003;Maestripieri et al, 2007).…”

“…Mother-offspring attachment including close proximity provide the confidence and visual opportunities to use mother as a model, even if this might perpetuate behaviour of low efficiency (Tanaka, 1995(Tanaka, , 1998Drapier & Thierry, 2002) or abusive mothering styles prone to reduce fitness (Fairbanks, 1989;Berman, 1990;Maestripieri, 2003;Maestripieri et al, 2007). As infants age, they are able to modify behaviour learned from mothers by using other models such as peers (Wallen et al, 1981;Berman, 1982;Ehardt & Bernstein, 1987;Lee & Johnson, 1992;Huffman, 1996;de Waal, 1996;Suomi, 2005;Leca et al, 2007) or by independent learning (Berman & Kapsalis, 1999).…”

Variation at the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) influences attachment behavior in infant primates

“…It is known that both the strength and the quality of the attachment bond differ among human subjects (9). Like humans, rhesus macaques vary in the quality of their attachment relations (3,12), and social attachment is partially attributable to heritable factors (13). This suggests that genetic factors may contribute to individual variation in attachment behavior during infancy, but no specific loci contributing to this variation have yet been identified.…”