Fatal attraction: Interest in infants and infant abuse in rhesus macaques

Maestripieri, Dario

doi:10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199909)110:1<17::aid-ajpa2>3.0.co;2-m

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Rather, abusive behavior appears to be a stable maternal characteristic that is likely to be displayed with young infants, irrespective of whether they are the mother's own offspring or foster infants. Interestingly, a recent study demonstrated that infant abuse in rhesus macaques does not reflect a tendency to interact negatively with infants in general (Maestripieri, 1999b). For example, abusive mothers did not interact negatively with other females' infants more than did control mothers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Adoption and maltreatment of foster infants by rhesus macaque abusive mothers

Maestripieri

Megna

Jovanović

2000

Developmental Science

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In this study we investigated whether infant characteristics play a causal role in the occurrence of maternal abuse of offspring in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and whether abusive mothers differ from controls in their tendency to adopt alien infants in a cross-fostering procedure. To this end, 13 infants born to mothers with a previous history of infant abuse were cross-fostered shortly after birth with infants born to nonabusive mothers and subsequently observed for 12 weeks. Abusive mothers were significantly more likely to reject foster infants than control mothers were. When adoption was successful, all of the abusive mothers maltreated their foster infants whereas none of the control mothers exhibited infant abuse. These findings suggest that infant characteristics do not play an important causal role in the occurrence of infant abuse and that abusive mothers may differ from nonabusive ones in maternal motivation or reactivity to stressful procedures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Adoption and maltreatment of foster infants by rhesus macaque abusive mothers

Maestripieri

Megna

Jovanović

2000

Developmental Science

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“…Though several studies have explored the adaptive significance of allomaternal behavior by young female primates toward infants (Quiatt, 1979, Meaney et al, 1990), the exact relationship between interest in infants and maternal behavior remains unresolved (Maestripieri, 1999). Historically, young females’ interest in infants is thought to provide the substrate through which they gain experience necessary for mothering their own offspring (Lancaster, 1971).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interest in infants by female rhesus monkeys with neonatal lesions of the amygdala or hippocampus

et al. 2009

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Previous research in our laboratory has shown that damage to the amygdala in neonatal rhesus monkeys profoundly alters behaviors associated with fear processing, while leaving many aspects of social development intact. Little is known, however, about the impact of neonatal lesions of the amygdala on later developing aspects of social behavior. A well-defined phenomenon in the development of young female rhesus monkeys is an intense interest in infants that is typically characterized by initiating proximity or attempting to hold them. The extent to which young females are interested in infants may have important consequences for the development of species-typical maternal behavior. Here we report the results of a study that was designed to assess interest in infants by female rhesus monkeys that received neonatal lesions to the amygdala, hippocampus or a sham surgical procedure. Subjects were first paired with pregnant "stimulus" females to assess social interactions with them prior to the birth of the infants. There were few behavioral differences between lesion groups when interacting with the pregnant females. However, following the birth of the infants, the amygdala-lesioned females showed significantly less interest in the infants than did control or hippocampus-lesioned females. They directed fewer affiliative vocalizations and facial expressions to the mother-infant pair compared to the hippocampus-lesioned and control females. These findings suggest that neonatal damage to the amygdala, but not the hippocampus, impairs important precursors of non-human primate maternal behavior.

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“…Nevertheless, allomothering can be costly to mothers, as some females can abuse infants or refuse to return them to mothers. This is particularly likely to occur in species where females form steep and despotic dominance hierarchies (Schino et al, 1993;Maestripieri, 1999;Ross & MacLarnon, 2000). Indeed, Ross & MacLarnon (2000) hypothesized that female-female competition limits the occurrence of allomaternal care across species.…”

Section: Pathway 1: Communal Care Of Offspring and Allomotheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the links between social ties and fitness over the life cycle in primates

Thompson

2019

Behav.

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Many studies highlight the correlation between social ties and fitness, yet often cannot reveal how ties influence fitness. This review is aimed to facilitate the formulation and testing of hypotheses in this area on non-human primates. I outline fitness-relevant measures of social ties and 6 potential pathways from ties to fitness. Pathways include communal care; group level cooperation for resources; monopolizing resources within groups; attaining social status; reducing risk and allostatic load; and developing behavioural competence. Hypotheses for further evaluation include (1) fitness increases sociality, not vice versa; (2) early life experience influences both ties and fitness, (3) ties are actually costly; (4) short term costs of ties are outweighed by long term benefits. With the advance of theoretical and methodological approaches to evaluate the costs and benefits of social ties, and monitor them at multi-generational field sites, primate behavioural ecologists are poised to test several of these hypotheses.

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Fatal attraction: Interest in infants and infant abuse in rhesus macaques

Cited by 17 publications

References 26 publications

Adoption and maltreatment of foster infants by rhesus macaque abusive mothers

Adoption and maltreatment of foster infants by rhesus macaque abusive mothers

Interest in infants by female rhesus monkeys with neonatal lesions of the amygdala or hippocampus

Understanding the links between social ties and fitness over the life cycle in primates

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