St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Countering infanticide : chimpanzee mothers are sensitive to the relative risks posed by males on differing rank trajectories

Thumbnail
View/Open
Lowe_2018_Countering_infanticide_AJPA_AAM.pdf (500.3Kb)
Date
01/2019
Author
Lowe, Adriana E.
Hobaiter, Catherine
Newton-Fisher, Nicholas E.
Keywords
Aggression
Association
Budongo
Counter-strategy
Pan troglodytes
BF Psychology
QL Zoology
NDAS
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
Objectives: Infanticide by males is common in mammals. According to the sexual selection hypothesis, the risk is inversely related to infant age because the older the infant, the less infanticide can shorten lactational amenorrhea; risk is also predicted to increase when an infanticidal male's chance of siring the replacement infant is high. Infanticide occurs in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), a species in which male dominance rank predicts paternity skew. Infanticidal male chimpanzees (if low-ranking) are unlikely to kill their own offspring, whereas those who are currently rising in rank, particularly when this rise is dramatic, have an increased likelihood of fathering potential future infants relative to any existing ones. Given that mothers should behave in ways that reduce infanticide risk, we predicted that female chimpanzees, and specifically those with younger, more vulnerable infants, would attempt to adjust the exposure of their infants to potentially infanticidal males. Specifically, mothers of young infants should reduce their association with adult males in general, and to a greater extent, with both low-ranking males and those rising in rank from a position where paternity of current infants was unlikely, to a rank where the probability of siring the next infant is significantly higher. We also investigated the alternative possibility that rather than avoiding all adult males, mothers would increase association with males of stable high rank on the basis that such males could offer protection against infanticide. Materials and methods:  We examined data on female association patterns collected from the Budongo Forest, Uganda, during a period encompassing both relative stability in the male hierarchy and a period of instability with a mid-ranking male rising rapidly in rank. Results:  Using linear mixed models, we found that mothers reduced their association with the rank-rising male, contingent on infant age, during the period of instability. We also found evidence that females preferentially associated with a potential protector male during the high-risk period. Discussion:   Our results support the sexually selected hypothesis for infanticide and demonstrate that female chimpanzees are sensitive to the relative risks posed by adult males.
Citation
Lowe , A E , Hobaiter , C & Newton-Fisher , N E 2019 , ' Countering infanticide : chimpanzee mothers are sensitive to the relative risks posed by males on differing rank trajectories ' , American Journal of Physical Anthropology , vol. 168 , no. 1 , pp. 3-9 . https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23723
Publication
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23723
ISSN
0002-9483
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2018, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created accepted version manuscript following peer review and as such may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23723
Description
A.E.L. was supported by a University of Kent Vice Chancellor's Scholarship. Data collection was funded by a grant to NNF from Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/18634

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter