The benefits of social capital: close social bonds among female baboons enhance offspring survival
Open accessAbstract
Sociality has evolved in many animal taxa, but primates are unusual because they establish highly differentiated bonds with other group members. Such bonds are particularly pronounced among females in species like baboons, with female philopatry and male dispersal. These relationships seem to confer a number of short-term benefits on females, and sociality enhances infant survival in some populations. However, the long-term consequences of social bonds among adult females have not been well established. Here we provide the first direct evidence that social relationships among female baboons convey fitness benefits. In a group of free-ranging baboons, Papio cynocephalus ursinus , the offspring of females who formed strong social bonds with other females lived significantly longer than the offspring of females who formed weaker social bonds. These survival benefits were independent of maternal dominance rank and number of kin and extended into offspring adulthood. In particular, females who formed stronger bonds with their mothers and adult daughters experienced higher offspring survival rates than females who formed weaker bonds. For females lacking mothers or adult daughters, offspring survival was closely linked to bonds between maternal sisters. These results parallel those from human studies, which show that greater social integration is generally associated with reduced mortality and better physical and mental health, particularly for women.
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Other social mammals form cooperative relationships between unrelated adults that can last over months or years.
“Recent studies show that, in addition to humans, other social mammals form cooperative relationships between unrelated adults, which can last over months or years (chimpanzees [7], baboons [8,9] and feral horses [10]).”
From Food sharing is linked to urinary oxytocin levels and bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees (2014) · cites this paper as [8]
Individuals who maintain long-lasting cooperative relationships have more offspring than those who do not.
“Crucially, there is evidence that individuals who maintain such cooperative relationships have more offspring than those who do not [8,10 -12].”
From Food sharing is linked to urinary oxytocin levels and bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees (2014) · cites this paper as [8]
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- Authors
- Silk, J. B., Beehner, J. C., Bergman, T. J., Crockford, C., Engh, A. L., Moscovice, L. R., Wittig, R. M., Seyfarth, R. M., & Cheney, D. L.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- University of St Andrews (GB)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Silk, Joan B.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2009-06-10
- Volume
- 276
- Issue
- 1670
- Pages
- 3099-3104
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC2817129
- OpenAlex
- W2126186430
- Cited by
- 717
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 86 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 40 · 2015: 51 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 35
- FWCI
- 39.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01hd029433-03)
- National Institute of Mental Health (F32MH064232, MH62249, R01MH062249)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD-29433)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- social capital, social bonds, female baboons, offspring survival, maternal kinship, female philopatry, primate sociality, kin selection, social integration, primate health
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Female, Longevity, Social Behavior, Papio cynocephalus
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