Social relations are important for baboons

The baboons, whose mothers have a close relationship with other females, are more likely to survive to adulthood than those fed by a less social mother monkey, according to a study by Scientist at UCLA, University of Pennsylvania and other academies.

Joan Silk, UCLA's head of anthropology and professor of anthropology, said: 'For a baboon, the intimacy of the mother monkey's relationship with the other children is to clearly indicate whether Did he survive to have a baby? This study is one of the proofs of the biological benefits of close relationships among children. '

This finding is important because 'the ability to survive to reproduce is a fundamental condition of evolutionary biology', co-author Dorothy Cheney, professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania, said: 'Gene of children who feed their children to the age of childbearing is often passed down to the generations below. So these findings represent the evolutionary advantage of close relationships with other children. In evolutionary terms, high-society mothers are the most 'suitable' mothers - at least for baboons. '

The study was published online on the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a journal published by the British National Academy of Sciences and Commonwealth.

Silk, Cheny and 7 other researchers are from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, and the University of St. Louis. Andrews in Kenya analyzed 17 years of data on more than 66 adult female baboons at the Moremi Game Conservation Center , a 2,000-square-kilometer national park in Botswana with abundant wildlife.

Collected by field primates, who monitor baboons 6 days 1 week, January 12, these data show the sex ratio and survival of those baboon, as well as details of their mother's social life, including herd in the herd, and social interaction with other children in herd.

In addition to showing how often these animals interact with each other, social interaction data also include grooming details, known as commune interactions. The most popular Assembly in monkeys. Researchers emphasize the amount of time - frequency and length - the females used to catch each other.

The mother baboon (on the left) and her daughter sit together with other offspring at the Moremi Conservation Center Game of Botswana Print, mother and daughter baboons with intimate relationships.Their relationship is nearly three times the relationship between sister monkeys, and 10 times more than the connection between females.(Photo: Joan Silk)

Of all the factors studied, the intimacy of the social link between the mother monkey and the other females has the most significant impact on the survival rate of the offspring.The hierarchy of mother monkeys in the herd does not affect the survival rate of the offspring.

Silk said: 'We really expect the rank in the herd to have a greater effect than what was found in the study'.

Children from highly social mothers have a 1.5 times higher survival rate to adulthood than those of the lowest social mothers.

The most intimate social relationship was found between mother and adulthood, followed by sisters and other relationships, including aunts, nieces, and relatives. The relationship between mother and daughter monkeys is three times higher than the relationship between sister monkeys and 10 times the relationship between other females.

Silk said: 'What is really important for female monkeys is the relationship between mother and daughter. This link is really intimate and exists forever. If the mother monkey is still alive, it is still the most intimate partner for the baby monkey. But more importantly, it is the intimacy of this relationship, because the offspring of female monkeys have a close relationship with mother and daughter monkeys that have a higher survival rate. '

Previous research by Silk with Jeanne Altmann, Professor Eugene Higgin on Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, and Susan C. Alberts, professor of biology at Duke University on baboons in Amboseli The Basin of Kenya has found a higher survival rate for baboons that have a high social status, but this study only tracks offspring in the first year of life.

For the new study, researchers track offspring from 1 year of age to maturity in terms of reproductive life - about 5 years of age. The new study is also different from previous research in that it focuses on the intimacy and length of the relationship between female monkeys rather than the number of social interactions in general.

Cheney, who runs the gas-tracking project Moremi with psychology professor Robert M. Seyfarth of the University of Pennsylvania, said: 'The benefits do not come from having a broad social relationship - but from Close social relations'.

Silk said: 'Children often form close relationships with certain partners. They do not treat all monkeys equally. They spend a lot of time with some females than others, and their relationship is often long-lasting. '

Further research is still needed to determine how the relationship between females improves the survival rate of the offspring. Research has shown that prolonged stress hormones in primates can lead to cardiovascular disease and other serious health problems. Research shows that grooming tends to reduce these hormones in baboons.

Silk said: 'Our research shows that there is a link between the social relationship you form and the natural pressures that arise in everyday life, and this relationship - at least in monkeys. dog head - there are long-term effects on successful reproduction '.

Supposedly up to 92% of human DNA, baboons are close relatives to humans. Baboons and humans have the same ancestor from 18 million years ago. New findings on social interaction among mother monkeys in recent studies show health benefits for people with close social networks.

Silk said: 'Our findings show the benefits of forming a close relationship for a long time.'

The study received funding from the National Geographic Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation, the Institute of Cognitive Science Research at Pennsylvaia University, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.