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Male care of infants in a siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) population including socially monogamous and polyandrous groups

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Abstract

While male parental care is uncommon in mammals, siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) males provide care for infants in the form of infant carrying. I collected behavioral data from a cohort of five wild siamang infants from early infancy until age 15–24 months to identify factors affecting male care and to assess the consequences of male care for males, females, and infants in a population including socially monogamous groups and polyandrous groups. There was substantial variation in male caring behavior. All males in polyandrous groups provided care for infants, but males in socially monogamous groups provided substantially more care than males in polyandrous groups, even when the combined effort of all males in a group was considered. These results suggest that polyandry in siamangs is unlikely to be promoted by the need for “helpers.” Infants receiving more care from males did not receive more care overall because females compensated for increases in male care by reducing their own caring effort. There was no significant relationship between indicators of male–female social bond strength and male time spent carrying infants, and the onset of male care was not associated with a change in copulation rates. Females providing more care for infants had significantly longer interbirth intervals. Male care may reduce the energetic costs of reproduction for females, permitting higher female reproductive rates.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by the Leakey Foundation, Sigma Xi, the Fulbright Student Program, New York University, the New York Consortium for Evolutionary Primatology, and the Margaret and Herman Sokol Foundation, and during the writing stages, by Ewha Womans University and the Amore Pacific Foundation. Permission to conduct research in Indonesia was granted by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), and permission to conduct research in the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park was granted by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry’s Department for the Protection and Conservation of Nature (PHKA). I thank the American–Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF), Universitas Indonesia and the Wildlife Conservation Society–Indonesia Program for considerable logistical assistance in Indonesia, and Anton Nurcayho, Maya Dewi Prasetyaningrum, Mohammad Iqbal, Teguh Priyanto, Tedy Presetya Utama, Janjiyanto, Sutarmin, Martin Trisunu Wibowo, and Abdul Roshyd for their assistance in the field. Thanks to Marina Cords, Roberto Delgado, Tony Di Fiore, Terry Harrison, and Clifford Jolly for the helpful comments on the dissertation chapter on which this manuscript is based, and to Susan Alberts and three anonymous reviewers for many helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Thanks to Tim O’Brien and Margaret Kinnaird for many helpful discussions and for sharing unpublished data. The research described in this manuscript was conducted with permission from the government of Indonesia, and was conducted in full compliance with the laws of the Republic of Indonesia.

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    Susan Lappan

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Lappan, S. Male care of infants in a siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) population including socially monogamous and polyandrous groups. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62, 1307–1317 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0559-7

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