Social Monogamy in Free-ranging Owl Monkeys (Aotus azarai azarai) of Argentina

这个项目将研究为什么以及如何猫头鹰猴子生活在一夫一妻制的关系。 猫头鹰猴生活在只有一对繁殖成年猴的群体中，雄性猫头鹰猴大量参与婴儿护理，大部分时间携带婴儿。 为什么雄性枭猴会选择一夫一妻制的伴侣关系而不考虑其他的繁殖机会呢？ 为什么他们是如此好的父亲，在照顾他们甚至可能没有产生的后代上投入大量资金？ 尽管灵长类动物的一夫一妻制和父爱的进化对理解人类行为有着深远的意义，但它在很大程度上仍然是未知的。 研究将评估三种可能的解释：1-雄性无法独占一个以上的雌性，因为雌性彼此分散得太远，2-雄性提供给雌性的照顾和服务是后代生存所必需的，3-社会一夫一妻制的发生是因为雄性和雌性成功地保护了配偶。 来自美国和阿根廷的一个博士和本科生团队将收集阿根廷查科森林中22个猫头鹰猴群的数据。 除其他外，他们将收集关于粮食资源丰富程度和分布的数据，以评估雌性如何在森林中分布，并收集关于婴儿存活率的数据，以评估父亲照顾的好处。 最后，他们将进行模拟捕食者和性竞争者存在的实验，以评估雄性和雌性如何应对对他们一夫一妻制关系的威胁。这个项目将为理解生态和社会因素如何影响灵长类动物（包括人类）社会一夫一妻制的进化做出重大的智力贡献。 这也将使我们能够检查男性和女性之间的行为差异以及父母和交配倾向。 从更应用的角度来看，猫头鹰猴的长期人口统计数据将有助于为其他不太知名的灵长类和哺乳动物物种提供管理决策。 例如，根据从该项目收集的信息，有可能对其他濒危灵长类种群的生存能力进行建模。 猫头鹰猴项目与阿根廷负责教育当地人民保护问题的非政府组织以及国家和省政府办公室保持合作。 PI已经提供（并将继续提供）培训和教育机会，85名学生来自美国和84名学生来自七个拉丁美洲国家，英国和日本的情况下，从实地实习到硕士和博士论文。该研究将继续产生有价值的生物样本，并与众多研究人员和机构共享。PI还参与了保护活动，他为该地区建立了一个与保护有关的组织（他是该组织的科学主任）。此外，他还为拉丁美洲学生组织了实地培训课程。

This project will examine why and how owl monkeys live in a monogamous relationship. Owl monkeys live in groups that include only one pair of reproducing adults and male owl monkeys are heavily involved in infant care, carrying the infant most of the time. Why do male owl monkeys mate in a monogamous relationship presumably foregoing other reproductive opportunities? Why are they such good fathers, investing heavily in the care of offspring they may have not even sired? The evolution of monogamy and paternal care in primates remains largely unknown, despite its profound implications for understanding human behavior. There are three possible explanations that the study will evaluate: 1- males are unable to monopolize more than one female because females are spread too far apart from each other, 2- the care and services the male provides to the female are necessary for the survival of the offspring and, 3- social monogamy occurs because of the successful guarding of mates done by males and females. A team of doctoral and undergraduate students from the USA and Argentina will collect data from 22 owl monkey groups in the forests of the Argentinean Chaco. Among other things, they will collect data on the abundance and distribution of food resources to evaluate how females distribute themselves in the forest and on infant survival to evaluate the benefits of paternal care. Finally, they will conduct experiments simulating the presence of predators and the presence of sexual competitors to evaluate how males and females may respond to a threat to their monogamous relationship.This project will make a substantial intellectual contribution to the understanding of how ecological and social factors affect the evolution of social monogamy in primates, including humans. It will also allow us to examine the differences between males and females in behavior and both parental and mating tendencies. From a more applied perspective, the long-term demographic data on owl monkeys will be useful in informing management decisions for other less well-known primate and mammal species. For example, it may be possible to model the viability of other more endangered primate populations based on the information collected from this project.The broad impacts of this project are numerous. The owl monkey project maintains collaborations with NGOs in Argentina that are responsible for educating the local people about conservation issues, as well as with national and provincial government offices. The PI has already offered (and will continue to offer) training and educational opportunities to 85 students from the US and to 84 students from seven Latin American countries, England, and Japan in situations ranging from field internship to MA and PhD dissertations. The study will continue to generate valuable biological samples that will be shared with numerous researchers and institutions. The PI is also involved in conservation activities, and he founded a conservation-related organization (of which he is scientific director) for the region. In addition, he has organized field training courses for Latin American students.