A Comparison of Infant-Adult Male Relations in a One-Male Group with Those in a Multi-Male Group for Yellow Baboons (Papio cynocephalus)

Abstract

We compared interactions between an infant and adult male in a one-male group with those between infants and adult males in a multi-male group in the same area. Proximity interactions in the one-male group were common, like those for dyads in the multi-male group in which the adult male was high-ranking or a likely father of the infant. Contact interactions in the one-male group were rare, like those for dyads in the multi-male group in which the adult male was low-ranking or unlikely to have sired the infant. This suggests that proximity to an adult male is important in coping with the physical environment (similar for both groups), and more contiguous interactions are important in coping with the social environment (more complex in a larger multi-male group).