Age-trajectory of mother-infant relationships in wild Assamese macaques

Abstract

Maternal care is ubiquitous in mammals, yet its degree and duration vary across taxa. Primate mothers provide extended care, with similar developmental transitions of the mother-infant relationship, though with different paces of change. Ecological conditions can influence the trajectory of this relationship, but data from the wild are still scarce. We used methods from growth studies to quantitatively describe the non-linear age-trajectory of the mother-infant spatial relationship, and the transition from dependent to independent feeding and locomotion in wild Assamese macaques (M. assamensis). We also explored sex differences in the development of the mother-infant relationship. We used a modified Gompertz function to model the combined effect of infant age and sex on mother and infant behaviors extracted from focal observations of 58 infants. Newborns were fully dependent on their mothers for feeding and transportation, with mothers maintaining close proximity. A transitional phase emerged between 1 and 3 months of infant age, marked by a noticeable reduction in the spatial proximity with the mother and a shift in the responsibility for the infants feeding and transportation. During the second half of infancy, the decrease in proximity time slowed down, with infants achieving near-complete locomotion independence, spending the majority of time away from their mothers and feeding independently. No sex differences were found. Our models provided a robust fit for most variables, but we recommend future exploration of alternative nonlinear functions. We interpret the early infant independence observed in our population in the context of the species reproductive strategy.