Maternal Investment Fosters Male but Not Female Social Interactions with Other Group Members in Immature Wild Spider Monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi).

ABSTRACT: In several species, individuals form long-lasting social relationships with other group members, which provide them with important fitness benefits. In primates, patterns of social relationships are known to differ between sexes, but little is known about how these differences emerge through development or the role that mothers might have in this process. Here, we investigated how sex differences in social behaviour emerge during the first six years of primate life and how sex-biased maternal investment can foster immatures' social development and social interaction with other group members. For this purpose, we observed 20 males and females aged between zero and six years in a wild group of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) that was male-philopatric and, therefore, expected to show

SUBMITTER: Soben C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10251948 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature