A. Widdig et al., Paternal relatedness and age proximity regulate social relationships amongadult female rhesus macaques, P NAS US, 98(24), 2001, pp. 13769-13773
Citations number
68
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary
Journal title
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Kin selection promotes the evolution of social behavior that increases the
survival and reproductive success of close relatives. Among primates, mater
nal kinship frequently coincides with a higher frequency of grooming and ag
onistic aiding, but the extent to which paternal kinship influences adult f
emale social relationships has not yet been investigated. Here, we examine
the effect of both maternal and paternal kinship, as well as age proximity,
on affiliative interactions among semifree-ranging adult female rhesus. ma
caques, Macaca mulatta. Kinship was assessed by using both microsatellites.
and DNA-fingerprinting. Our study confirms that the closest affiliative re
lationships characterize maternal half-sisters. We provide evidence that ad
ult females are significantly more affiliative with paternal half-sisters t
han with nonkin. Furthermore, paternal kin discrimination was more pronounc
ed among peers than among nonpeers, indicating that age proximity has an ad
ditional regulatory effect on affiliative interactions. We propose that kin
discrimination among cercopithecine primates emerges from ontogenetic proc
esses that involve phenotype matching based on shared behavioral traits, su
ch as inherited personality profiles, rather than physiological or physical
characteristics.