Female reproductive ageing persists despite high infanticide risk in chacma baboons and geladas
Across mammals, fertility and offspring survival are often lowest at the beginning and end of females’ reproductive careers. However, extrinsic drivers of reproductive success—including infanticide by males—could stochastically obscure these expected age-related trends. Here, we modelled reproductiv...
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The Royal Society
2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.241210 |
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| author | Jacob A. Feder India A. Schneider-Crease Jacinta C. Beehner Thore J. Bergman Robert M. Seyfarth Joan B. Silk Noah Snyder-Mackler Amy Lu |
| author_facet | Jacob A. Feder India A. Schneider-Crease Jacinta C. Beehner Thore J. Bergman Robert M. Seyfarth Joan B. Silk Noah Snyder-Mackler Amy Lu |
| author_sort | Jacob A. Feder |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Across mammals, fertility and offspring survival are often lowest at the beginning and end of females’ reproductive careers. However, extrinsic drivers of reproductive success—including infanticide by males—could stochastically obscure these expected age-related trends. Here, we modelled reproductive ageing trajectories in two cercopithecine primates that experience high rates of male infanticide: the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) and the gelada (Theropithecus gelada). We found that middle-aged mothers generally achieved the shortest interbirth intervals in chacma baboons. By contrast, old gelada females often showed shorter interbirth intervals than their younger group-mates with one exception: the oldest females typically failed to produce additional offspring before their deaths. Infant survival peaked in middle-aged mothers in chacma baboons but in young mothers in geladas. While infant mortality linked with maternal death increased as mothers aged in both species, infanticide risk did not predictably shift with maternal age. Thus, infanticide patterns cannot explain the surprising young mother advantage observed in geladas. Instead, we argue that this could be a product of their graminivorous diets, which might remove some energetic constraints on early reproduction. In sum, our data suggest that reproductive ageing is widespread but may be differentially shaped by ecological pressures. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-def0fdaae94c44ef8f2f0051669e0674 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-def0fdaae94c44ef8f2f0051669e06742025-01-15T00:06:00ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032025-01-0112110.1098/rsos.241210Female reproductive ageing persists despite high infanticide risk in chacma baboons and geladasJacob A. Feder0India A. Schneider-Crease1Jacinta C. Beehner2Thore J. Bergman3Robert M. Seyfarth4Joan B. Silk5Noah Snyder-Mackler6Amy Lu7Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USASchool of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USADepartment of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USADepartment of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USADepartment of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USAInstitute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USASchool of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USADepartment of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USAAcross mammals, fertility and offspring survival are often lowest at the beginning and end of females’ reproductive careers. However, extrinsic drivers of reproductive success—including infanticide by males—could stochastically obscure these expected age-related trends. Here, we modelled reproductive ageing trajectories in two cercopithecine primates that experience high rates of male infanticide: the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) and the gelada (Theropithecus gelada). We found that middle-aged mothers generally achieved the shortest interbirth intervals in chacma baboons. By contrast, old gelada females often showed shorter interbirth intervals than their younger group-mates with one exception: the oldest females typically failed to produce additional offspring before their deaths. Infant survival peaked in middle-aged mothers in chacma baboons but in young mothers in geladas. While infant mortality linked with maternal death increased as mothers aged in both species, infanticide risk did not predictably shift with maternal age. Thus, infanticide patterns cannot explain the surprising young mother advantage observed in geladas. Instead, we argue that this could be a product of their graminivorous diets, which might remove some energetic constraints on early reproduction. In sum, our data suggest that reproductive ageing is widespread but may be differentially shaped by ecological pressures.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.241210reproductive senescencematernal effectssexually selected infanticidefolivory |
| spellingShingle | Jacob A. Feder India A. Schneider-Crease Jacinta C. Beehner Thore J. Bergman Robert M. Seyfarth Joan B. Silk Noah Snyder-Mackler Amy Lu Female reproductive ageing persists despite high infanticide risk in chacma baboons and geladas Royal Society Open Science reproductive senescence maternal effects sexually selected infanticide folivory |
| title | Female reproductive ageing persists despite high infanticide risk in chacma baboons and geladas |
| title_full | Female reproductive ageing persists despite high infanticide risk in chacma baboons and geladas |
| title_fullStr | Female reproductive ageing persists despite high infanticide risk in chacma baboons and geladas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Female reproductive ageing persists despite high infanticide risk in chacma baboons and geladas |
| title_short | Female reproductive ageing persists despite high infanticide risk in chacma baboons and geladas |
| title_sort | female reproductive ageing persists despite high infanticide risk in chacma baboons and geladas |
| topic | reproductive senescence maternal effects sexually selected infanticide folivory |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.241210 |
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