{"title":"Maternal exploitation: impact of maternal food snatching behaviour on the growth of their offspring in Japanese macaques.","authors":"Hiroyuki Kurita","doi":"10.1007/s10329-024-01166-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>There is little information on maternal behaviour that deprives offspring of food, but some Japanese macaque, Macaca fuscata, mothers have been observed to snatch food from their offspring and eat it. This study investigated maternal food snatching behaviour (MFSB) and its impact on the growth of their offspring in provisioned, free-ranging Japanese macaques. The amount of food a mother snatched from her offspring was estimated to be 51.2% by dry weight compared to the amount of solid food an infant of the same age took in. Body mass growth of affected infants indicated a below-average mass gain. The study suggests that MFSB might be a pathological behaviour and provides the first detailed account of parental exploitation in animals.</p>","PeriodicalId":20468,"journal":{"name":"Primates","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Primates","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-024-01166-0","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ZOOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
There is little information on maternal behaviour that deprives offspring of food, but some Japanese macaque, Macaca fuscata, mothers have been observed to snatch food from their offspring and eat it. This study investigated maternal food snatching behaviour (MFSB) and its impact on the growth of their offspring in provisioned, free-ranging Japanese macaques. The amount of food a mother snatched from her offspring was estimated to be 51.2% by dry weight compared to the amount of solid food an infant of the same age took in. Body mass growth of affected infants indicated a below-average mass gain. The study suggests that MFSB might be a pathological behaviour and provides the first detailed account of parental exploitation in animals.
期刊介绍:
Primates is an international journal of primatology whose aim is to provide a forum for the elucidation of all aspects of primates. The oldest primatological journal, Primates publishes original papers that advance the scientific study of primates, and its scope embraces work in diverse fields covering biological bases of behavior, socio-ecology, learning and cognition, social processes, systematics, evolution, and medicine. Contributions relevant to conservation of natural populations and welfare of captive primates are welcome. Studies focusing on nonprimate species may be considered if their relevance to primatology is clear. Original Articles as well as Review Articles, News and Perspectives, and Book Reviews are included. All manuscripts received are initially screened for suitability by members of the Editorial Board, taking into account style and ethical issues, leading to a swift decision about whether to send the manuscript for external review.