Mother-infant contact and maternal maintenance activities among free-ranging rhesus monkeys |
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Authors: | Rodney L Johnson |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, 80309 Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. |
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Abstract: | Mother-infant dyads were observed among three populations of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) in India and Nepal. Physical contact between mothers and infants, essential for effective maternal care in rhesus, was found
to be influenced by the mothers' feeding behavior. As early as the second week of life, infants exhibited a diminished probability
of being in contact with their mothers if their mothers were feeding rather than resting. Rhesus mothers disproportionately
rejected their infants within feeding contexts, indicating that mothers were actively discouraging contact attempts by their
infants during feeding bouts—perhaps because an active infant, if it remained in contact, would diminish its mother's foraging
efficiency.
In contrast to the mothers' feeding behavior, mother-infant contact was found to be little influenced by maternal locomotion.
Most infants were found to be neither disproportionately in, nor out of contact while their mothers were in motion. However,
as the amount of time mothers spent walking increased, so did the probability that infants would be carried. These data suggest
that rhesus mothers behave so as to minimize their energetic costs during locomotion. |
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Keywords: | Mother-infant contact Maternal care Rhesus monkeys Infant independence |
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