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Regulation of nursing in chimpanzees.

H Dienske, W Van Vreeswijk

    Developmental Psychobiology
    |January 1, 1987
    PubMed
    Summary

    Chimpanzee nursing patterns are highly irregular, with random timing between feeding bouts. This loose regulation is primarily infant-driven, unlike the scheduled feeding common in human societies.

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    Area of Science:

    • Primate behavior
    • Lactation biology
    • Infant-mother interactions

    Background:

    • Understanding nursing regulation is key to infant development.
    • Captive chimpanzee nursing behavior offers insights into primate maternal care.
    • Previous research suggests variations in nursing patterns across species.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the regulatory patterns of nursing in infant chimpanzees.
    • To determine if nursing timing is predictable or irregular.
    • To compare chimpanzee nursing regulation with human infant feeding behaviors.

    Main Methods:

    • Observational study of captive chimpanzees from birth to 6 months.
    • Analysis of nursing bouts, nursing episodes, and nursing pauses.
    • Frequency distribution analysis to assess timing predictability.

    Main Results:

    • Nursing bout, episode, and pause durations exhibited exponential or normally distributed patterns with large standard deviations, indicating random termination.
    • Slight regulatory effects observed: longer nursing episodes followed by longer pauses, and longer pauses (including sleep) preceded longer nursing bouts.
    • Infant behavior was the primary driver of nursing regulation; mothers were largely permissive.

    Conclusions:

    • Chimpanzee nursing exhibits a loosely organized and irregular timing pattern, primarily regulated by the infant.
    • This contrasts with the more structured feeding schedules often observed in humans, particularly in industrialized societies.
    • Findings suggest that unlimited breast access may lead to similar flexible nursing organizations in both species.

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