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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Paternal effects on offspring fitness in a multimale primate society
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 105, No. 6, Year 2008
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Description
When females mate with multiple males, paternal care is generally expected to be negligible, because it may be difficult or impossible for males to discriminate their own offspring from those of other males, and because engaging in paternal care may reduce male mating opportunities. Consequently, males in multimale societies are not predicted to provide direct benefits to their offspring. We have recently demonstrated, however, that males in a typical multimale primate society (yellow baboons, Papio cynocephalus) discriminate their own offspring from those of other males and provide care to them in the form of repeated support during agonistic encounters. This observation raises the question of whether fathers enhance offspring fitness in this species. Here we use 30 years of data on age at maturity for 118 yellow baboons with known fathers. We show that the father's presence in the offspring's social group during the offspring's immature period accelerated the timing of physiological maturation in daughters. Sons also experienced accelerated maturation if their father was present during their immature period, but only if the father was high ranking at the time of their birth. Because age at reproductive maturity has a large impact on lifetime reproductive success, our results indicate a direct effect of paternal presence on offspring fitness. This relationship in turn suggests that the multiple roles that males play in multimale animal societies have not been sufficiently examined or appreciated and that paternal effects may be more pervasive than previously appreciated. © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
Authors & Co-Authors
Charpentier, Marie J.E.
United States, Durham
Duke University
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Van Horn, Russell C.
United States, Escondido
Conservation and Research for Endangered Species
Altmann, Jeanne
United States, Princeton
Princeton University
Kenya, Nairobi
National Museums of Kenya
Alberts, Susan C.
United States, Durham
Duke University
Kenya, Nairobi
National Museums of Kenya
Statistics
Citations: 104
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 5
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1073/pnas.0711219105
ISSN:
00278424
Research Areas
Sexual And Reproductive Health
Participants Gender
Male
Female