Mothers and fathers improve immature baboon foraging success

What is it about?

This paper shows that young baboons are more likely to eat higher quality foods when near a mother or father, compared to when near an unrelated adult or alone. It is possible that both mothers and fathers offer protection from harassment and/or faciliate the learning of skills required to process such energetically important foods. There is limited research examining the nutritional benefits of foraging near relatives, generally, with even less known about the influence of fathers, in particular. Here we build on existing studies which indicate the overall importance of mothers, as well as offer new insight into the potential benefits of fathers.

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