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Since methods for genetic paternity analysis have been introduced, it has become clear that many animal species that live in pairs, including humans, do not take partnership fidelity so seriously. In most species there is a part of the offspring that is not generated by the social father. The auburn titi monkeys living in the Amazon lowland rainforest seem to be an exception. Scientists from the German Primate Center (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen were unable to find evidence of extra-couple paternity in their study population in Peru. Mate choice appears to be so successful that a potential genetic advantage does not outweigh the social costs of infidelity (Scientific reports).
Offspring resulting from extra-pair copulations but raised from the social side is surprisingly common in pair-dwelling species. Various reasons for this behavior are discussed. For example, mate choice is often limited and it is sometimes only discovered later that the mate choice is not genetically better. In order to ensure the best possible genes for your children, you can use the genes of a neighbor or a floating male without giving up the safety of your territory and the caring social father.
Coppery titi monkeys live in small family groups, consisting of males, females and offspring, which defend a territory. Usually only one child is born per year, who leaves the group when it reaches sexual maturity or shortly after and looks for a partner, with whom it occupies its own territory. The two partners maintain a strong relationship, spend the day and night in close proximity, and cleanse each other. Fourteen groups of coppery titi monkeys were studied at the field station of the German Center for Primates “Estación Biológica Quebrada Blanco” and its surroundings in northeastern Peru. Forty-one individuals could be genotyped using fecal samples from which DNA was extracted and sequenced at the genetics laboratory of the German Primate Center in Gottingen. None of the 18 children examined were not children of the social father, so genetic monogamy could be confirmed. Furthermore, it was found that adult animals exhibited high genetic diversity and that mating partners were on average unrelated. “Extra-pair breeding would therefore not have provided a genetic advantage for the animals studied, so they presumably rather avoided the risks of ‘infidelity’,” says Sofya Dolotovskaya, who studied the animals and their behavior for 14 months field research. a doctoral student of the German Primate Center.
“In an undisturbed ecosystem, such as in our field station, young auburn titi monkeys obviously migrate far enough from their native group to find a suitable partner without running the risk of inbreeding,” Eckhard W. Heymann, scientist at the German Primate Center and head of the field station in Peru, concludes from the study. “Further studies need to show whether genetic monogamy also prevails in other populations of coppery titi monkeys, especially in fragmented habitats.”
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Materials provided by Deutsches Primatenzentrum (DPZ) / German Center for Primates. Note: The content can be changed by style and length.
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