Maternal death and offspring fitness in multiple wild primates

Abstract

Extensive care of offspring by mothers is a fundamental trait of all mammals, including humans, and the loss of a mother can be catastrophic for offspring. Here, we identify previously undocumented ways in which the death of a mother affects her offspring, using long-term, longitudinal data from seven primate species. First, females that experience early maternal loss are often less able, as adults, to produce offspring that survive to maturity. Second, in some species young offspring are more likely to die if their mother is facing impending death (death in the next few years), even while she is still alive. This work has important implications for our understanding of the evolution of the long life spans that primates exhibit.