The Effect of Maternal Status on Time Budget in Female Barbary Macaques (Macaca sylvanus)

Martina Konečná, Veronika Roubová, Bernard Wallner, Stanislav Lhota

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

For all mammalian females, becoming a mother brings significant changes to their life. A dependent infant increases foraging demands during lactation and requires direct investment in maternal care. These new requirements might trigger changes in female behavior, such as reduced allocation of time to resting or social activities. We investigated how the maternal status affects time budgets in female Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) (N = 17) in a free-ranging provisioned group in Gibraltar. We collected behavioral data (490 h) after infants were born during two periods. We found that females with dependent offspring had spent a reduced proportion of time resting, vigilant, and self-grooming compared with females without dependent offspring. Females with dependent offspring also groomed other females less often and spent 50% more time in proximity to other group members, particularly males, than females without dependent infants. Females with dependent offspring received 28% more grooming than other females received. This difference was due to interactions with males, which might be connected to the specific role of Barbary macaque males as primary infant caretakers. There was no change in feeding time of mothers compared with other females. We conclude that changes in the time budget of mothers in the provisioned population were related to the need to attend their infants, rather than increased foraging demands. Barbary macaque social organization and behavioral strategies give rise to complex effects of infant care on maternal social interactions and time budget.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)540-557
Number of pages18
JournalInternational Journal of Primatology
Volume44
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2023

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 106051 Behavioural biology

Keywords

  • Daily budget
  • Grooming
  • Infant care
  • Mother-infant interaction
  • Primate

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