We’ve talked extensively about the importance of grandmothers. Do grandfathers contribute to their collective fitness in a parallel way to their female counterparts? So far all the data suggest that they do not. This is […]
The continued carrying and care of deceased infants is a clear and well-established pattern of behaviour that occurs across many primate species. What is more difficult for us to understand are the emotional correlates of […]
First-time moms may be more likely to allonurse newborns that don’t belong to them because they lack the experience and knowledge of multiparous or older moms. This situation is described by the misdirected care hypothesis, […]
Gelada baboon mothers have been observed to carry their deceased infants for extremely varied amounts of time – less than an hour to over forty-eight days. The mother who carried her infant for the longest […]
Some newborns can take milk from moms other than their own. In these cases, it’s important to discern whether the mom has a hand in mistakenly identifying an allosuckling pup for her own pup, or […]
Multiple cases of primate mothers carrying and providing care to deceased infants have been observed. From chimpanzees and geladas to spider, squirrel, Japanese, and snub-nosed monkeys, mothers of diverse species have been known to carry […]
Adult male killer whales are the world’s biggest mama’s boys. Literally. Matriarchs strongly protect their adult sons, keep them free from agonistic interactions with other groups or individuals, and make sure that they get enough […]