Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Yang, Bin
• Anderson, James R
• Mao, Min
• Wang, Kaifeng
• Li, Baoguo

Titel

Maternal caretaking behavior towards a dead juvenile in a wild, multi-level primate society

Ist Teil von

• Scientific reports, 2022-03, Vol.12 (1), p.4780-4780, Article 4780

Ort / Verlag

England: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Maternal caretaking and transport of dead infants are widespread among nonhuman primates, having been reported in numerous species of monkeys and apes. By contrast, accounts of such behaviors toward dead juveniles are scarce. Here, we describe responses by the mother and other group members to the death of a juvenile in a wild, multi-level group of Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana). Following the juvenile's fatal accident, his mother transported and cared for the corpse for four days. Immature monkeys belonging to the same one-male unit, and some individuals from other social units also showed interest in and tended the corpse. Comparisons of this case with those involving the deaths of infants and an adult female in the same population highlight possible effects of physiological, psychological and emotional factors in primate thanatological responses, and provide an additional perspective on the origin and evolution of compassionate acts.