Early social exposure in wild chimpanzees: mothers with sons are more gregarious than mothers with daughters.

ABSTRACT: In many mammals, early social experience is critical to developing species-appropriate adult behaviors. Although mother-infant interactions play an undeniably significant role in social development, other individuals in the social milieu may also influence infant outcomes. Additionally, the social skills necessary for adult success may differ between the sexes. In chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), adult males are more gregarious than females and rely on a suite of competitive and cooperative relationships to obtain access to females. In fission-fusion species, including humans and chimpanzees, subgroup composition is labile and individuals can vary the number of individuals with whom they associate. Thus, mothers in these species have a variety of social options. In this study, we investigate

SUBMITTER: Murray CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4280574 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature