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Non-offspring nursing by a nulliparous pregnant female just before first parturition in free-ranging Japanese

Ichirou Tanaka1

  • 1Faculty of Environmental and Informational Science, Yokkaichi University, 1200 Kayo-cho, Yokkaichi, Mie 512-8512, Japan. itanaka@yokkaichi-u.ac.jp

Primates; Journal of Primatology
|February 27, 2004
PubMed

A nulliparous pregnant Japanese macaque, Macaca fuscata, suckled her 1-year-old sister 44 days before her own parturition. Other Japanese macaque yearlings did not hold the nipples of this nulliparous female in their mouths. Although this non-offspring nursing before first parturition did not improve the rate of milk secretion, the nulliparous female may have improved her indirect fitness and her suckling behavior.

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