Paternal Care in Primates
Image Courtesy of Anne Savage
Paternal care rarely occurs in mammals but is found in several primate species. Male parental care includes carrying offspring, grooming them, intervening on their behalf in agonistic encounters, and preventing infanticide. In order for such actions to constitute true parental care, male primates must differentiate their offspring from other members of the group and give care specifically to them, and this care should increase the offspring's fitness (Buchan et al., 2003). Species exhibiting paternal care of infants include cotton-top tamarins (pictured above), Coquerel's sifaka prosimians, savannah baboons, Goeldi's monkeys, titi monkeys, siamangs, Barbary macaques, and common marmosets. The actual extent of male parental care varies considerably between these species (Schradin et al., 2003). Paternal care is most commonly found within monogamous mating systems but may occur in promiscuous or polyandrous groups more rarely. Obviously, male primates cannot care for infants alone due to their dependence on maternal milk (Woodroffe and Vincent, 1994).
This website was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Biology 323, Animal Behavior, at Davidson College in the Spring Semester 2009.
Please send any comments, questions, or suggestions regarding this website to Lindsay Sween or Professor Verna Case