Hunter-Gatherer Children's Close-Proximity Networks: Similarities and differences with cooperative and communal breeding systems

Nikhil Chaudhary*, Abigail E. Page, Gul Deniz Salali, Mark Dyble, Daniel Major-Smith, Andrea Bamberg Migliano, Lucio Vinicius, James Thompson, Sylvain Viguier

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Among vertebrates, allomothering (non-maternal care) is classified as cooperative breeding (help from sexually mature non-breeders, usually close relatives) or communal breeding (shared care between multiple breeders who are not necessarily related). Humans have been described with both labels, most frequently as cooperative breeders. However, few studies have quantified the relative contributions of allomothers according to whether they are a) sexually mature and reproductively active, and b) related or unrelated.

We constructed close-proximity networks of Agta and BaYaka hunter-gatherers. We used portable remote-sensing devices to quantify the proportion of time children under the age of four spent in close proximity to different categories of potential allomother. Both related and unrelated, and reproductively active and inactive campmates had substantial involvement in children's close-proximity networks. Unrelated campmates, siblings and subadults were the most involved in both populations; whereas, the involvement of fathers and grandmothers was the most variable between the two populations. Finally, the involvement of sexually mature, reproductively inactive adults was low. Where possible, we compared our findings to studies of other hunter-gatherer societies, and observed numerous consistent trends. Based on our results we discuss why hunter-gatherer allomothering cannot be fully characterised as cooperative or communal breeding.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere11
Number of pages27
JournalEvolutionary Human Sciences
Volume6
Early online date31 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 31 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press.

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