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Pregnant Monkeys More Likely to Miscarry While Also Nursing Infant
The 11-year study found 356 pregnancies in 117 females, with losses more common when mothers were nursing or raising tantrum-prone infants.
- Led by Nikolaos Smit of the University of Turku, Finland, an 11-year study published in PLOS Biology reveals mandrill mothers caring for dependent infants are more likely to experience fetal loss.
- Pregnancy and nursing are 'physically demanding' tasks, scientists explained, forcing female mandrills to allocate resources carefully to maximize their reproductive success.
- During the 11-year study, researchers observed 356 pregnancies across 117 females, recording 52 instances of fetal loss. Risks increased when infants threw 'tantrums' characterized by distress vocalizations or during alpha male takeovers.
- Senior author Marie Charpentier noted fetal loss may represent 'adjusting investment between current and future offspring,' serving as a physiological response enabling mothers to prioritize their dependent infant's survival.
- Females that experienced fetal loss eventually produced a similar number of surviving offspring as those who did not, though they reproduced sooner after pregnancy loss.
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Pregnant mandrill monkeys are more likely to miscarry when also nursing an infant
Female mandrills are more likely to experience pregnancy loss when they are simultaneously nursing an infant, which may reflect a physiological trade-off between current and future offspring, according to a study by Nikolaos Smit at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany, and the University of Turku, Finland, and colleagues, published in PLOS Biology.
·Douglas, United Kingdom
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(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Joo-young = A study has found that female monkeys who are pregnant while nursing have a higher risk of miscarriage than those who are not...
·Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)
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Total News Sources19
Leaning Left5Leaning Right6Center8Last UpdatedBias Distribution42% Center
Bias Distribution
- 42% of the sources are Center
42% Center
L 26%
C 42%
R 32%
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