Environmental, sex-specific, and genetic determinants of infant social behavior in a wild primate
Cite this dataset
Lange, Elizabeth et al. (2023). Environmental, sex-specific, and genetic determinants of infant social behavior in a wild primate [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v9s4mw725
Abstract
Affiliative social bonds are linked to fitness components in many social mammals. However, despite their importance, little is known about how the tendency to form social bonds develops in young animals, or if the timing of development is heritable and thus can evolve. Using four decades of longitudinal observational data from a wild baboon population, we assessed the environmental determinants of an important social developmental milestone in baboons—the age at which a young animal first grooms a conspecific—and we assessed how the rates at which offspring groom their mothers develops during the juvenile period. We found that grooming development differs between the sexes: female infants groom at an earlier age and reach equal rates of grooming with their mother earlier than males. We also found that age at first grooming for both sexes is weakly heritable (h2 = 0.043, 95% CI: 0.002 – 0.110). These results show that sex differences in grooming emerge at a young age; that strong, equitable social relationships between mothers and daughters begin very early in life; and that age at first grooming is heritable and therefore can be shaped by natural selection.
README: Data from Environmental, sex-specific, and genetic determinants of infant social behavior in a wild primate
The manuscript details four analyses (datafiles associated with each analysis are in parentheses):
Analysis 1: Environmental predictors of age at first grooming (1_4_age_first_grooming.csv)
Analysis 2: Recipients of first observed grooming effort (2_first_grooming_partners.csv)
Analysis 3: Mother-offspring grooming equivalence (3_grooming_equiv.csv)
Analysis 4: Genetic variance in age at first grooming (1_4_age_first_grooming.csv, 4_pedigree)
1_4_age_first_grooming.csv used in Analyses 1 & 4
- id, ID of subject
- mom_id, ID of subject's mother
- grp, social group that the subject resided in
- mean_members, average number of individuals in the social group
- mean_oe, observer effort, measured as average per capita grooms per month per group
- mean_proprank_tv, average proportional rank of the subject's mother (see publication for definition)
- alpha_present, Was the subject's mother the alpha (top) ranked female? (see publication for definition)
- sib_present, Was at least one sibling of the subject residing in the same social group as the subject from birth until first grooming?
- sex, sex of the subject (M=Male, F=Female)
- afg, age in years that the first grooming was observed
- groom, Was the first grooming was observed?
- adv_rain, Did the subject experience adverse rainfall in the first year of life? (see publication for definition)
- adv_mom_sci_F, Did the subject experience low maternal social connectedness? (see publication for definition)
- seasonbirth, Season (Wet or Dry) during which the subject was born
- hydroyear, The hydrological year in which the data were collected; a hydroyear begins on 1 Nov and ends on 31 Oct. Hydroyear 1995 began 1 Nov 1994 and ended 31 Oct 1995, and so on
- maternalexperience, denotes if the subject was the mother's first offspring (primiparous) or a subsequent offspring (multiparous)
- offspring_anubis_admix, Subject's 'hybrid score' = estimated genetic ancestry
- mom_anubis_admix, Subject's mother's 'hybrid score' = estimated genetic ancestry
2_first_grooming_partners.csv used in Analysis 2
- id, ID of subject
- sex, sex of the subject (M=Male, F=Female)
- sex_partner, sex of the partner being groomed (M=Male, F=Female)
- r, relatedness value
- relationship, categorical relationship based on r value, sex, and age of the grooming partner
- n0625_nomom, number of individuals in the group with relatedness values greater than 0.0625 excluding the mother of the subject
- mean_members, average number of individuals in the social group
3_grooming_equiv.csv used in Analysis 3
- id, ID of subject
- mom_id, ID of subject's mother
- sex, sex of the subject (M=Male, F=Female)
- age_months, age in months of the subject
- n_kid_grooms, number of times the subject was observed grooming its mother during the month
- n_mom_grooms, number of times the mother was observed grooming the subject during the month
- n_grooms, total number of groomings observed between the subject and its mother during the month
- grp, social group that the subject resided in
- hydroyear, The hydrological year in which the data were collected; a hydroyear begins on 1 Nov and ends on 31 Oct. Hydroyear 1995 began 1 Nov 1994 and ended 31 Oct 1995, and so on
- mom_dead, Did the subject's mother died in the first four years of the subject's life
- disp_cat, Did the male subject disperse early or late? (see publication for definition)
4_pedigree used in Analysis 4
- animal, ID of the subject
- dam, ID of subject's mother
- sire, ID of subject's father
Funding
National Science Foundation, Award: 1456832, IOS
National Institute on Aging, Award: R01AG053308
National Institute on Aging, Award: R01AG053330
National Institute on Aging, Award: R01AG071684
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Award: R01HD088558
National Institute on Aging, Award: R01AG075914
National Institute on Aging, Award: P01AG031719
National Science Foundation, Award: DGE 1644868, GRFP
National Institutes of Health, Award: T32GM007754