Abstract
Barbary apes are known to exhibit male care of babies at various locations, but only in the Middle Atlas mountains of Morocco has it been reported that a baby may be used in male-male interactions, apparently reducing the likelihood of aggression. The present study was made in order to discover if the behavior was characteristic of other groups reproductively isolated from the Atlas population. Male-male interactions involving a baby were observed in two groups and are described in detail; their “friendly” nature supports the hypothesis that the presence of a baby reduces the likelihood of aggression. We did not, however, see the active use of babies in this context which has been described for the Atlas population.
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References
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Whiten, A., Rumsey, T.J. ‘Agonistic buffering’ in the wild barbary macaque,Macaca sylvana L.. Primates 14, 421–425 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01731363
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01731363