Alloparental Behavior in Wild Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania
- 14 February 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Brill in Folia Primatologica
- Vol. 41 (1-2) , 1-33
- https://doi.org/10.1159/000156117
Abstract
Handling of smaller infants by individuals other than the mothers was studied for wild chimpanzees. Nulliparous subadult females, who are related or unrelated to the infants, are most earnest caretakers, while parous females usually are indifferent to infants other than their own. Adult males also take care of infants, although more briefly than nulliparae. Mothers screen alloparental candidates by sex and kin relationship. ‘Learn-to-mother’ hypothesis is supported for alloparental behavior by nulliparae. Costs and benefits of alloparental behavior by various age/sex classes are discussed.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Aunts and Mothers: Adaptive Implications of Allomaternal Behavior of Nonhuman PrimatesAmerican Anthropologist, 1979
- Infant Killing and Cannibalism in Free-Living ChimpanzeesFolia Primatologica, 1977
- Care and Exploitation of Nonhuman Primate Infants by Conspecifics Other Than the MotherAdvances in the Study of Behavior, 1976