Final Flashcards
Life expectancy
- an average computed over all people including those who die shortly after birth, those who die in early adulthood in childbirth or in wars, and those who live unimpeded until old age
- an average that tells us the number of years that someone is expected to live from a specific starting point
Lifespan
An individual specific concept; maximum lifespan is an upper bound rather than an average
- the max # years individual is expected to live; calculated by looking at the maximum # years someone from the same dataset lived
Primate lifespans and body size
- larger bodies animals live longer
Male vs female lifespans
- female primates live longer than males
- males tend to have riskier lives: dispersal, higher intra- sexual competition, more physical fighting
Altricial
- underdeveloped
- primate infant brains are fairly underdeveloped at birth
Precocial
- well developed
- active or physically mobile at birth
Strepsirhines less or more altricial
- less altricial
More altricial
- happlorrhines
- within primates precocial offspring is considered the primitive trait
Mothers are parkers
- some lemurs and lorises
- short lactation with high- fat milk
- post partum mating
- no infanticde
Mothers are carriers
- most haplorrhines
- long lactation with low-fat milk
- no post-party’s mating
- infanticide occurs
Socialization
- modification or behaviour through observation of and interaction with others in the social group
Why is socialization important in primates?
- large brains relative to body size and heavy reliance upon learning for survival lead to slow maturation and lengthy period of dependence
Infant socializing agents
- mothers
- adult males
- handlers
- peers (other infants)
Mother- infant relationship
- the first social relationship the infant will form
- very strong
- mothers actively and passively shape the infants social environment
Variability in maternal care
- Age of mother
- Parity of mother (experience)
- Rank of mother
- Temperament of mother
- Temperament of infant
- Species differences
- Sex of infant
- Food availability
Why do males interact with infants?
- sexual selection and female choice
- parental investment
- paternity certainty
- kin selection
- siblings, other maternal kin