@article{dcf8a330510d4f45aad1c20a5d5ab304,
title = "Routine allomaternal nursing in a free-ranging Old World monkey",
abstract = "While regular allomaternal nursing (suckling) has been documented in a number of rodent and carnivore species, as well as in some prosimians, New World monkeys, and humans, it is not common in Old World monkeys and apes. Here, we present a detailed field study of allomaternal nursing in golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana, Colobinae). We found that more than 87% of infants were nursed by females other than their mothers. Allomaternal nursing was largely confined to the first 3 months of an infant{\textquoteright}s life and occurred predominantly between related females who nursed each other{\textquoteright}s offspring in a reciprocal manner. Allomaternal nursing enhanced infant survivorship and did not have a negative impact on the future reproductive success of allonursers. Our findings expand the taxonomic distribution of allomaternal nursing and provide fresh insight into the possible factors driving evolution of allomaternal nursing behavior in primates, including humans.",
author = "Zuofu Xiang and Penglai Fan and Haochun Chen and Ruoshuang Liu and Bo Zhang and Wanji Yang and Hui Yao and Grueter, {Cyril C.} and Garber, {Paul A.} and Ming Li",
note = "Funding Information: We thank L. Wei and L. Lu for help in collecting data in the field. We thank T. H. Clutton-Brock, H. Elise, K. MacLeod, and other members of LARG at the Department of Zoology in Cambridge University for constructive suggestion of this paper. Z.X. wishes to thank L. Chen for the suggestion of data analysis. P.A.G. wishes to thank M. Chrissie, G. Sara, and G. Jenni for support. The study was partially funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB31020000) and the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2016YFC0503200 to M.L.), as well as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31821001 to M.L. and 31870509 and 31670397 to Z.X.). Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2019 The Authors.",
year = "2019",
month = feb,
day = "20",
doi = "10.1126/sciadv.aav0499",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "5",
journal = "Science Advances",
issn = "2375-2548",
publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",
number = "2",
}