Mother-offspring proximity maintenance as an infanticide avoidance strategy in bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii).

Autor: Scott AM; Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA.; Department of Anthropology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA., Susanto TW; Department of Biology, National University, Jakarta, Indonesia., Setia TM; Department of Biology, Graduate Program, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia., Knott CD; Department of Anthropology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.; Department of Biology, Boston University, Massachusetts, Boston, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: American journal of primatology [Am J Primatol] 2023 Jun; Vol. 85 (6), pp. e23482. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Mar 05.
DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23482
Abstrakt: Sexually-selected infanticide by males is widespread across primates. Maternal protection is one of many infanticide avoidance strategies employed by female primates. Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) mothers with younger offspring are less social with males than mothers with older offspring. Additionally, the distance between a mother and offspring decreases in the presence of male conspecifics, but not female conspecifics. We hypothesized that mothers are responsible for the change in mother-offspring proximity when males are present. Using a year of behavioral data from orangutans in Gunung Palung National Park, we tested whether the Hinde Index, a ratio of the number of approaches and leaves between two individuals, was indicative of mother or offspring proximity maintenance across different social groupings. The semi-solitary social organization of orangutans allows us to observe different social groupings. We found that the mother-offspring Hinde Index was typically indicative of offspring maintenance of proximity. However, the presence of male conspecifics was associated with an increase in the Hinde Index which indicates that mothers are responsible for the decrease in mother-offspring distance when males are present. The decrease in mother-offspring distances and increase in Hinde Index when males are present indicates that mothers react to the presence of males in a protective manner. We suggest this may be an infanticide avoidance behavior by mother orangutans.
(© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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