Social Bonds of Female Baboons Enhance Infant Survival
Abstract
Among nonhuman primates, females often form strong bonds with kin and other group members. These relationships are thought to have adaptive value for females, but direct effects of sociality on fitness have never been demonstrated. We present 16 years of behavioral data from a well-studied population of wild baboons, which demonstrate that sociality of adult females is positively associated with infant survival, an important component of variation in female lifetime fitness. The effects of sociality on infant survival are independent of the effects of dominance rank, group membership, and environmental conditions. Our results are consistent with the evidence that social support has beneficial effects on human health and well-being across the life span. For humans and other primates, sociality has adaptive value.
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- Authors
- Silk, J. B., Alberts, S. C., & Altmann, J.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), CA 90095, USA.
- Corresponding author
- Silk, Joan B.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2003-11-14
- Volume
- 302
- Issue
- 5648
- Pages
- 1231-1234
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W1969509464
- Cited by
- 1,157
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 37 · 2025: 47 · 2024: 59 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 72 · 2021: 77 · 2020: 72 · 2019: 95 · 2018: 81 · 2017: 76 · 2016: 58 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 56 · 2012: 52
- FWCI
- 21.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- 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
- female baboons, social bonds, infant survival, sociality, dominance rank, group membership, social support, primate social behavior, wild primate populations
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Animals, Wild, Environment, Female, Grooming, Hierarchy, Social, Kenya, Papio, Reproduction, Social Behavior, Social Dominance, Social Support, Survival Rate
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