Where do the male monkeys and apes go after birth? Do they help raise the young?
In some monogamous species, the males will help provision (feed) and carry the young. Biologists explain this as an investment in the male’s own offspring… in monogamous relationships there is “paternity certainty.” In most polygamous primate species the fathers of individual offspring are unknown, and males play little role in raising young, other than general group defense, etc. That’s why it is interesting to see males in some species, such as the savanna baboons, spending alot of time with infants. Read about this in the Barbara Smuts article on baboons in your reader.
