SOCIAL-STRUCTURE, INFANT HANDLING, AND MOTHERING STYLES IN GROUP-LIVING OLD-WORLD MONKEYS

I argue that in Old World monkeys, infant handling by individuals othe r than the mother is a heterogeneous phenomenon in structural and func tional terms; species differences in maternal tolerance of infant hand ling are related to differences in the relative proportion of abusive to affiliative responses made to infants by adult females other than t he mother; and infant handling by adult females is related to the spec ies-typical social structure, with particular reference to social rela tionships among females and patterns of food competition. I apply the proposed relationship among social structure, infant handling, and mot hering style to explain the observed variation in mothering styles bet ween and within the subfamilies Colobinae and Cercopithecinae.