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01 20, 2020;10 (1): 714.

Information transfer through food from parents to offspring in wild Javan gibbons.

Yoonjung Yi, Yena Kim, Agus Hikmat, Jae C Choe
Author Information
  1. Yoonjung Yi: Laboratory of Behavioral Ecology, Interdisciplinary Program of EcoCreative, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 03760, Republic of Korea. ORCID
  2. Yena Kim: Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, 2333 AK, Leiden, the Netherlands.
  3. Agus Hikmat: Department of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecotourism, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, 16680, West Java, Indonesia.
  4. Jae C Choe: Laboratory of Behavioral Ecology, Department of Life Sciences and Division of EcoScience, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 03760, Republic of Korea. jaechoe@ewha.ac.kr.
PMID: 31959761 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-57021-6

Abstract

The adaptive functions of food transfer from parents to their offspring have been explained mainly by two mutually non-exclusive hypotheses: the nutritional and informational hypotheses. In this study, we examined the functions of food transfer in wild Javan gibbons (Hylobates moloch) by testing these hypotheses from both infants' and mothers' perspectives. We observed 83 cases of food solicitations that resulted in 54 occasions of food transfers in three groups over a 19-month period in Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, Indonesia. Infants initiated all solicitations directed at their mothers with one solicitation towards a father. Food solicitation rate decreased as infant age increased and ceased before weaning. As predicted by the informational hypothesis, infants solicited more food items difficult to obtain and preferred by their parents. On the contrary to the nutritional hypothesis, infants solicited low-quality items more often than high-quality items. Mothers did not change probability of food transfer according to the food characteristics or infant age. Hence, our results suggest that the primary function of food transfer from mother to infant Javan gibbons seems to be information transfer rather than nutritional aids, similarly to great apes.

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MeSH Term

Animals
Animals, Wild
Behavior, Animal
Feeding Behavior
Female
Food
Hylobates
Indonesia
Male
Maternal Behavior
Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Article has an altmetric score of 15

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