The influence of birth timing upon infant growth and survival in Captive Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatto)

Weights, growth rates, and mortality data of 815 captive-born Macaca mulattainfants were studied to determine if date of birth influences infant growth and survival. The six groups studied displayed a unimodal spring-summer birth season that has become systematically more restricted since 1977. Males exhibited higher rates of stillbirth and neonatal death and were more frequently born outside the normal birth season, when infant mortality was more common. Within the normal birth season, infant weight increased linearly with birth date, and infant growth rate declined linearly with birth date. Female infants with weights and growth rates near the developmental norm, especially those born in the middle of the birth season, have the greatest probability of survival. Males are more likely to survive if their weights and growth rates exceed the developmental norm, and thus male infants might be initially more costly to produce than female infants. These results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that offspring of high-ranking males, which conceived predominantly in the first third of the breeding season, enjoy a selective advantage.