Social monogamy and the threat of infanticide in larger mammals |
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Authors: | Carola Borries Tommaso Savini Andreas Koenig |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, SBS Building, Circle Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA;(2) Conservation Ecology Program, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, 10150, Thailand |
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Abstract: | The evolution of social monogamy in larger mammals is difficult to explain because males usually do not invest much in direct
offspring care and might achieve greater fitness by deserting a pregnant female to reproduce with additional females elsewhere.
It has been hypothesized that socially monogamous males remain with the female year-round to protect their offspring from
infanticide by new immigrant males. We investigated this idea by analyzing all cases of infant loss in a wild population of
white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar; Primates), in which most groups were socially monogamous and some polyandrous (137.5 group years). We examined the influence
of (a) male intruder pressure on male immigration rates and (b) the presence of a new male in the group on infant loss. We
found no relation between intruder pressure and male immigration rates. Infant loss was lowest (4.5%) for stable monogamy
(probable father stayed from conception through infancy) and intermediate (25.0%; p = 0.166) for stable polyandry. If a new male immigrated after conception, however, the infant was lost in all cases (p < 0.01) independent of the presumed father’s presence. Overall, 83.3% of infant losses were associated with the presence
of a presumably unrelated male. Although the sample size is small, our results provide the first true support for the idea
that the risk of infanticide is an important factor in the evolution of social monogamy in larger mammals. |
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