Brief report: Infant-killing and infant disappearance following male takeovers in a group of free-ranging howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in Costa Rica
✍ Scribed by Dr. Margaret R. Clarke
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1983
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 500 KB
- Volume
- 5
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0275-2565
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Events surrounding an infant-killing following a male takeover are described for a group of free-ranging howling monkeys in Costa Rica, and additional evidence is presented for infant disappearances following three previous male takeovers. Infant-killing is best interpreted in this context as a male reproductive strategy, as infant-killing did effectively shorten the interbirth interval, and only infants of high-ranking females died or disappeared following a male takeover. Due to the exclusive access of the dominant male to high-ranking estrous females, a n incoming male who had lived as a peripheral male before taking over the group would run little risk of eliminating his own offspring in the course of killing the offspring of highranking females.