Dad Baboons Help Their Daughters Mature

WASHINGTON - Having daddy around when they are growing up is good for little girls - even if they are little baboon girls. While that's well known for people, it's a bit of a surprise for non-human primates.

But a report in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that female baboons in Kenya raised in groups with their fathers matured earlier and had a longer reproductive life than other baboons.

Males had not been thought to be engaged in a level of care that would make any difference to their offspring, said Susan Alberts, an associate professor of biology at Duke University.

Alberts and colleagues studied groups of yellow baboons living near Kenya's Mt. Kilimanjaro. In these groups both males and females have several partners.

The presence of the father in a group gave the daughters a jump-start on sexual maturity, a measure of fitness, the researchers said.

"For young females, because their major opponents in life are adult females and fellow juveniles, the presence of any adult male may be helpful," Alberts said in a statement.

Baboons do not share food after their mothers cease nursing, but the father's presence during early maturity may still help daughters get more to eat if the father reduces any harassment of their offspring.

"Sons also experienced accelerated maturation if their father was present during their immature period, but only if their father was high-ranking at the time of their birth," the researchers found.

For sons, the major competition for food is other males, so only the presence of a high-ranking father would help, the researchers said.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and a Marie Curie Outgoing Fellowship.

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CFK, this is not a good sign. Did you happen to bump your head fairly hard before discovering this article, reading it and deciding to share it hear on the board?

I am beginning to feel that your time back home between trips to the deep south needs to structured more carefully. Walk the dog more, wax your car, and play more scrabble. Avoid reading this type of article at all costs.

If you get really board, drop an flyroad down your toilet vent up on top of your roof. Spend you evenings up on the roof with a Coleman lantern and a spin casting rod. Lower the hook and weight down the toilet vent repeatedly until you finally hook the eyelet of the spin casting rod. It ususally takes 1.5 evenings/543 attempts to hook the fly rod. Eventually, you will get an audience made up of your neighbors while you do this. Refuse to discuss what you are doing or say anything until you finally hook the fly rod. At that point, begin shoulting "I HOOKED ME A BIG 'Un!!!" to the neighborhood. Go back into the house and do not leave it again until it is time to go to the airport. This regimen has worked for me every time lately.

My second suggestion to shorten the amount of time that you spend at home between trips to the "Deep South". It will help you resist the urge to read these types of articles and share them here on the board.

Only a friend could tell you this.

I have been using these coping mechanisms for a few years now and everyone on the board and in my neighborhood realizes how perfectly nomal I am. If we need to discuss this feel free to give me a phone call.

Bliss,
"I am beginning to feel that your time back home between trips to the deep south needs to structured more carefully."
My second suggestion to shorten the amount of time that you spend at home between trips to the "Deep South".

CONSIDER IT DONE! As you know I am planning the next trip [which will include YOU] as I write...