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Reproductive Strategies and Infant Care in the Malagasy Primates

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Building Babies

Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR,volume 37))

Abstract

The old African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” may extend well beyond the collective effort attributed to human child rearing strategies. In fact, allomaternal care is taxonomically widespread, particularly among mammalian taxa (e.g., rodents: Gubernick and Alberts 1987; Solomon and Getz 1997; chiroptera: O’Farrell and Studier 1973; canids: Moehlman and Hofer 1997; cetaceans: Gero et al. 2009; and primates: Hrdy 1976; Chism 2000). Allomaternal care includes infant care provided by the father (paternal care, Fernandez-Duque et al. 2009) or by conspecifics other than the parents (alloparental care, Wilson 1975). While well represented by a diversity of taxa, allomaternal care is not common among mammals (e.g., 9–10% of taxa display paternal care; Kleiman and Malcolm 1981; Huck and Fernandez-Duque 2012), allomaternal care has been recently noted to occur at relatively high frequencies in the Order Primates, particularly among many haplorhine (e.g., monkey and ape) species (Tardif 1997; Chism 2000; Ross and MacLarnon 2000; Hrdy 2009). While studies have examined the causes and consequences of allomaternal care among haplorhines, to our knowledge, there has yet to be a comprehensive analysis of allomaternal care across the entire primate order (e.g., including the primates of Madagascar, hereafter referred to as lemurs). This is in large part because studies of lemur allomaternal care have lagged behind those of their primate cousins. The most recent attempt at a synthesis of primate allomaternal care found that it was a haplorhine-biased phenomenon, finding no evidence of lemurs participating in allomaternal care-related behaviors (Ross 2003), and thus precluding any analysis of allomaternal care within that taxon. However, recent increases in attention to and sampling effort of lemur care behaviors have revealed that allomaternal care is more common in lemurs than originally thought (Mitchell 1969; Klopfer 1974; Pereira et al. 1987; Wright 1990; Patel 2007; Hrdy 2010; Rowe and Myers 2011; Tecot and Hrdy, unpublished data). Moreover, a number of studies in recent years have added to our understanding of this postnatal care strategy in lemurs, making it possible to include these species in broader taxonomic comparisons of primate reproductive strategies. In light of these recent discoveries, we aim to (1) describe the different types of allomaternal care observed in primates, including a discussion of how each type of care is expressed in monkeys and apes, and a summary of what is currently known for lemurs; (2) discuss the benefits of allomaternal caretaking and whether such behaviors benefit lemur mothers; and (3) outline important gaps in our knowledge of lemur allomaternal care, suggesting future avenues of research.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Katie Hinde, Julienne Rutherford, and Kate Clancy for inviting us to contribute to this volume, and for their insightful comments. We are grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful feedback and suggestions, and the numerous lemur researchers who took the time to answer our questions. We appreciate access to unpublished data from the All the World’s Primates database, generously contributed by several researchers and provided by Noel Rowe; the Duke Lemur Center, provided by Sarah Zehr and Julie Taylor; Teague O’Mara, and Erik Patel. SRT would like to thank Toni Ziegler, Pat Wright, Anita Ginther, and Sarah Hrdy for insight and discussions on allomaternal care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Emil W. Haury Building, 210030, Tucson, AZ, 85721-0030, USA

    Stacey R. Tecot & Natalie Romine

  2. Interdepartmental Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA

    Andrea L. Baden

  3. Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Andrea L. Baden

  4. Department of Anatomy, Midwestern University, 19555 N. 59th Avenue, Glendale, AZ, 85308, USA

    Jason M. Kamilar

  5. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, 85287, USA

    Jason M. Kamilar

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  1. Stacey R. Tecot
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Correspondence to Stacey R. Tecot .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, 109 Davenport Hall, M/C 148, Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Kathryn B.H. Clancy

  2. , Department of HUman Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Katie Hinde

  3. , Comparative Primate Biology Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, 60612, Illinois, USA

    Julienne N. Rutherford

Glossary

Allomaternal care

Costly behaviors directed toward infants, which are provided by individuals other than the mother. This can include care by the genetic father, siblings, and other distantly related or unrelated group members.

Allomaternal nursing

The behavior of females nursing offspring that are not ­genetically their own.

Carrying on fur

Also known as infant riding; the infant clings to its mother’s fur during movement between locations.

Carrying orally

Care-providers transport young in their mouths, such as when moving between nests. Oral carrying typically occurs when infants are altricial and cannot cling to their mother’s fur.

Cheirogaleidae

A family within the infraorder Lemuriformes including the genera Allocebus, Cheirogaleus, Microcebus, Mirza, and Phaner.

Crèching

A shared nest or centralized location where the young of several mothers are cared for in a communal fashion (i.e., by one or many individuals other than the mother).

Daubentoniidae

A family within the infraorder Lemuriformes including the genus Daubentonia.

Energy transfer

When group members provision infants with food resources to the energetic benefit of the infant. Includes food sharing and allomaternal nursing.

Food sharing

Transfer of food resources from group members to infants, often due to infant solicitation.

Haplorhini

A suborder of primates including catarrhines (Old World monkeys and apes), platyrrhines (New World monkeys), and tarsiers.

Helper

Infant care-provider other than the mother.

Indriidae

A family within the infraorder Lemuriformes including the genera ­Avahi, Indri, and Propithecus.

Infant guarding or “babysitting”

When group members other than the ­mother remain with an infant while its mother is away. This can involve predator ­protection, protection against infanticide, and general supervision.

Infant transport

When a care-provider moves an infant between locations ­(transport can be over short or long distances) and includes carrying on fur (i.e., infant clings) and/or oral carrying, as in cases where infants cannot cling.

Infant mistreatment/“Aunting to death”

Exploitative cases of allomaternal care which result in the mishandling, injury, and sometimes death of infants receiving care.

Lemuridae

A family within the infraorder Lemuriformes including the genera ­Eulemur, Hapalemur, Lemur, Prolemur, and Varecia.

Lemuriformes

An infraorder of strepsirhini primates endemic to the island of Madagascar.

Lepilemuridae

A family within the infraorder Lemuriformes including the genus Lepilemur.

Nesting

When infants are left in actual nests that have been constructed from leaves, lianas, and other materials. Often occurs when infants are altricial and cannot cling, and is common among litter-bearing taxa.

Parking

When infants are left hidden in a tree-hole, amongst lianas and tree ­tangles, or clinging to a branch while family members feed and forage. Often occurs when infants are altricial and cannot cling.

Strepsirrhini

A suborder of primates including lemurs, lorises, and galagos.

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Tecot, S.R., Baden, A.L., Romine, N., Kamilar, J.M. (2013). Reproductive Strategies and Infant Care in the Malagasy Primates. In: Clancy, K., Hinde, K., Rutherford, J. (eds) Building Babies. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects, vol 37. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4060-4_15

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