Maternal Behavior by Birth Order in Wild Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Increased Investment by First-Time Mothers

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2223949
AutoresMargaret A Stanton (0000-0002-6129-6664, George Washington University), Elizabeth Lonsdorf (0000-0001-8057-401X, Franklin & Marshall College), Elizabeth V Lonsdorf, Anne E Pusey (0000-0002-2280-8954, Duke University), Jane Goodall (The Jane Goodall Institute), C M Murray (0000-0003-2055-0061, George Washington University)
Ano2014
Volume55
Fascículo4
Páginas483-489
Data de publicação2014-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCurrent Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0011-3204 • E-ISSN: 1537-5382
EditoraUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/677053
PMID25328164
PMCIDPMC4197843
OpenAlexW2059750533
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas12
Referências citadas58

Parental investment theory predicts that maternal resources are finite and allocated among offspring based on factors including maternal age and condition, and offspring sex and parity. Among humans, firstborn children are often considered to have an advantage and receive greater investment than their younger siblings. However, conflicting evidence for this "firstborn advantage" between modern and hunter-gatherer societies raises questions about the evolutionary history of differential parental investment and birth order. In contrast to humans, most non-human primate firstborns belong to young, inexperienced mothers and exhibit higher mortality than laterborns. In this study, we investigated differences in maternal investment and offspring outcomes based on birth order (firstborn vs. later-born) among wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodyte schweinfurthii). During the critical first year of life, primiparous mothers nursed, groomed, and played with their infants more than did multiparous mothers. Furthermore, this pattern of increased investment in firstborns appeared to be compensatory, as probability of survival did not differ by birth order. Our study did not find evidence for a firstborn advantage as observed in modern humans but does suggest that unlike many other primates, differences in maternal behavior help afford chimpanzee first-borns an equal chance of survival

Biology · Birth order · Developmental psychology · Firstborn · Offspring · Parental investment · Population · Pregnancy · Sociology · Troglodytes · Zoology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior · Psychology