Weaning Age, Infant Care, and Behavioral Development in Trachypithecus leucocephalus

• Published in: International journal of primatology Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 583 - 591
• Main Authors: Zhao, Qing, Tan, Chia L., Pan, Wenshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.06.2008; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animal Ecology; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Anthropology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Conflicts of interest; Evolutionary Biology; Human Genetics; Infants; Life history; Life Sciences; Monkeys & apes; Offspring; Reproduction; Studies; Zoology; lactation period; Asian Colobinae; development of independence; parent-offspring conflict; parental investment
• ISSN: 0164-0291; 1573-8604
• DOI: 10.1007/s10764-008-9255-8

Primate infants are born in an altricial state and rely on the care of their parents for a relatively long period of time. Parental investment is critical to offspring survival and thus to the reproductive success of the parent as well. However, mothers and infants may experience a conflict of interest, in that infants may benefit by receiving prolonged maternal care but mothers may curtail such care in a tradeoff between investment in current versus future offspring. Documenting life history characteristics, such as age at weaning, is important not only for understanding the conflicts of interest and tradeoffs; such information can also provide insights about female reproductive rates and be valuable for conservation efforts. Little is known about the life history of white-headed langurs ( Trachypithecus leucocephalus ), despite their endangered status. We were the first to investigate mother-infant relationships and infant behavioral development in the species. We studied 3 wild mother-infant pairs throughout infancy. We used data from >460 h of focal subject sampling to calculate the proportion of time individuals spent in different behavioral states and the frequency of instantaneous events, such as maternal rejection. White-headed langur infants depended on their mothers for 19–21 mo, at which time they were weaned. Maternal rejection facilitated infant independence in the early stages of infant development, and mothers stopped investing in their infants when they resumed estrus. The weaning age of the wild white-headed langurs we studied was dramatically longer than that of captives, possibly as a result of the nutritional differences between wild and captive populations. Weaning age was also longer than for most other Asian colobines, and may be attributable to the degradation and fragmentation of their natural habitat.