Parenting costs time: Changes in pair bond maintenance across pregnancy and infant rearing in a monogamous primate (Plecturocebus cupreus).

ABSTRACT: Relationships support social animals' health, but maintaining relationships is challenging. When transitioning to parenthood, new parents balance pair-bond maintenance with infant care. We studied pair-bond maintenance via affiliation in 22 adult titi monkey pairs (Plecturocebus cupreus) for 16 months centered around their first offspring's birth. Pair affiliation peaked during pregnancy, decreased across the postpartum period, and rose after reaching minimum affiliation 32.6 weeks postpartum. Pairs in which fathers carry infants more than average had lower affiliation at the infant's birth and return to an increase in affiliation sooner. Parents of infants who were slow to independence had higher rates of affiliation. Titi monkey infants actively prefer their fathers; mothers may avoid th

SUBMITTER: Karaskiewicz CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9616172 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature