Unconditional care from close maternal kin in the face of parasites.

ABSTRACT: Several species mitigate relationships according to their conspecifics' parasite status. Yet, this defence strategy comes with the costs of depriving individuals from valuable social bonds. Animals therefore face a trade-off between the costs of pathogen exposure and the benefits of social relationships. According to the models of social evolution, social bonds are highly kin-biased. However, whether kinship mitigates social avoidance of contagious individuals has never been tested so far. Here, we build on previous research to demonstrate that mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) modulate social avoidance of contagious individuals according to kinship: individuals do not avoid grooming their close maternal kin when contagious (parasitized with oro-faecally transmitted protozoa), although

SUBMITTER: Poirotte C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7058945 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature