Monkey owl lives more faithfully with a mate than a human

Unlike humans, many monkeys are very faithful to their partners. According to a recent study of primates, Azara is very respectful of monogamy.

The study also found that the relationship of this monkey species was only affected because the father monkey spent a lot of time caring for their children.

"Monkey lives in pairs, and they are very faithful to each other," study author Maren Huck, a professor at Derby University, told Live Science in an interview.

Prior to this study, scientists knew that the monkey species of Azara owl was monogamous, ie male monkeys and female monkeys living together in pairs. But socially monogamous is not the equivalent of what scientists call "genetic fidelity" , meaning that males and females only participate in the breeding process with their spouse. But the reality is that genetic fidelity is extremely rare.

One way that researchers examine the existence of genetic fidelity is to analyze the DNA of monkey pairs, and examine the relationship between father monkeys and baby monkeys.

Monkey is more faithful to his partner than human.(Source: livescience.com)

In this study, the scientists analyzed local observations of the behavior of the monkey type, along with genetic samples from 128 monkeys, including those living in the herd and living alone, as well as samples taken from 35 baby monkeys are the offspring of 17 parental monkey pairs.

Scientists found that both male and female monkeys in the study were faithful to their partners, and the young monkeys carried the same genes as their father.

According to Professor Huck, it is impossible to determine immediately which influences first: the father's monkey taking care of the young monkey makes the mother monkey more faithful to them, or the fidelity that the father monkey tends to care for the monkey But these two things clearly affect each other.

In general, male monkeys will be more beneficial to care for their children than to find new partners. This is especially true for species where males find it difficult to find females to mate because their living conditions are not allowed.

This study also helps explain the mechanism behind pairing, which is not necessarily accompanied by fidelity, as well as parenting mechanisms in animals.

"Love-or-love, if you want - is a very common thing in human society, while fatherhood has many different forms. Owl monkeys show that with fertility conditions. Certainly, the preference of the opponent will make the couple spend more time on close relationships, thereby strengthening the instincts of parenthood and increasing the care of the father and the children. "The gene is the result of this," said another study author, Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

For humans, achieving more complex fidelity, and the absolute care of a father in Azara monkeys is difficult to find. In fact, people tend to do the opposite.

"The human society once had a man who left no assets to his children 's children but left his children' s children," said Fernandez - Duque.

This is because men are more certain about their relationship with sisters and their cousins ​​than those who are supposed to be their children.