New research from the University of Notre Dame has found that strong early-life relationships between father baboons and their daughters can significantly increase the females' chances of survival, potentially extending their lifespans by two to four years.
Very few mammals, besides humans, receive care from their fathers. However, when mammal species do receive paternal care, it may benefit their offspring. This groundbreaking study evaluated the impact father baboons have when they choose to co-reside or interact with their daughters.
"Male baboons tend to reach their peak reproductive success when they're young adults. But once they've had a few kids and their condition declines, they sort of slide into 'dad mode,' where they don't disperse as much and they don't try as hard to mate. Then they have time to invest in and hang out with their kids," said Elizabeth Archie, professor of biological sciences at Notre Dame and corresponding author of the study.
Published in *Proceedings of the Royal Society B*, the study examined 216 female baboons and their fathers in the Amboseli ecosystem of East Africa. About a third of the daughters lived in the same social group as their fathers for three years or more. The remaining two-thirds had fathers who either left the group or died within their daughter's first three years of life.
Researchers observed the grooming habits of juvenile female baboons with their fathers and other adult males. Grooming in baboons is used for hygiene and social bonding. Archie shared that grooming could be considered the "human equivalent of sitting down, having a cup of coffee and a good chat."
The findings showed that daughters who had a strong relationship with their fathers or co-resided with them for three years or more lived two to four years longer than females with weaker father-daughter relationships. "Early life adversity has a powerful effect on lifespan, so this study suggests that having a dad allows females that have experienced other forms of adversity to recover some of those costs," said Archie.
Father-daughter pairs that lived together longer had stronger grooming relationships. Notably, strong relationships between juvenile females and other adult males did not predict adult survival. This could be because male baboons sometimes intervene on behalf of their offspring in conflicts, protecting their daughters and even the mothers from other group members.
"Males seem to sort of expand a child's social network, as they can be popular members of their social group. Lots of baboons are coming up and interacting with the male. So an infant who's hanging out near a male has more diverse social interactions than if they're only hanging out with mom," Archie explained. "And dads can create a sort of safety zone for their daughters."
Although baboon mothers provide all essential care to their offspring, and while mammal fathers may not provide much care, Archie believes this study may hold insight into the evolutionary roots of human parental care.
The study is part of the Amboseli Baboon Research Project, which began in 1971 and is among the longest-running primate studies in the world. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the project is co-directed by Archie at Notre Dame, Susan Alberts from Duke University, and Jenny Tung at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
"We're very grateful to the NSF and NIH for funding over the years that has allowed us to sustain this project. We could not have done over 50 years of this project without their support," said Archie.
In addition to Archie, Alberts, and Tung, study co-authors include David Jansen at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and J. Kinyua Warutere at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Archie is affiliated with Notre Dame's Eck Institute for Global Health and Environmental Change Initiative.
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