Signalling plays an important role in mediating social interactions in many animal species. For example, during approaches certain species produce ‘greetings’, which can take the form of vocal or visual signals, which reduce the probability of …
Postnatal development is protracted relative to lifespan in many primates, including modern humans (Homo sapiens), facilitating the acquisition of key motor, communication and social skills that can maximize fitness later in life. Nevertheless, it …
$$In mammals, early life adversity negatively affects survival and reproductive success. A key causal mechanism is proposed by the biological embedding model which posits that adversity experienced early in life has deleterious consequences on …
Compared with most mammals, postnatal development in great apes is protracted, presenting both an extended period of phenotypic plasticity to environmental conditions and the potential for sustained mother-offspring and/or sibling conflict over …
Several theories have been generated to understand the socio-cognitive mechanisms underlying the unique cooperative abilities of humans. The ‘interdependence hypothesis' posits first, that the cognitive dimension of human cooperation evolved in …
Maternal cannibalism has been reported in several animal taxa, prompting speculations that the behavior may be part of an evolved strategy. In chimpanzees, however, maternal cannibalism has been conspicuously absent, despite high levels of infant …
In animals with altricial offspring, most growth occurs after birth and may be optimized by post-natal maternal care. Maternal effects on growth may be influenced by individual characteristics of the mothers, such as social status, individual …
Consistent individual differences in social phenotypes have been observed in many animal species. Changes in demographics, dominance hierarchies or ecological factors, such as food availability or disease prevalence, are expected to influence …
Behavioural syndromes are a well-established phenomenon in human and non-human animal behavioural ecology. However, the mechanisms that lead to correlations among behaviours and individual consistency in their expression at the apparent expense of …