Fathers' behaviors have evolved in humans, according to a study on paternity relations

According to a study of gorillas, men who care for children, not necessarily only theirs, are likely to be more successful in procreation, suggesting another way in which paternity behaviors may have evolved in humans .

"Mountain gorillas and humans are the only great apes in which men regularly develop close social ties with children, so find out what mountain gorillas are doing and why they help us understand how men may have started. to embark on the path of our more committed paternity form. "said lead author Stacy Rosenbaum, a post-doctoral fellow at Northwestern University in the United States.

According to Christopher Kuzawa, co-author and professor at the university, the results go against what we usually think of male mountain gorillas – huge, competitive and with breeding in the group dominated by a single alpha male.

"Men spend a lot of time with groups of children and those who groom and rest more with them end up having more opportunities for procreation," Kuzawa said.

"One likely interpretation is that women choose to marry men based on these interactions."

Whereas, traditionally, men's care was thought to depend on a specific social structure, monogamy, because it allowed men to take care of their own children.

The new study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggests that there is another path through which evolution can generate this behavior, even when men do not know who their offspring are, Rosenbaum said.

This raises the possibility that similar behaviors may have played an important role in the initial establishment of paternity behaviors in distant human ancestors.

"In men, testosterone decreases as men become fathers, and this would help focus their attention on the needs of the newborn," Kuzawa said.

The study found that even after multiple checks of dominance ranks, age, and the number of chances of reproduction that they have, men who have these ties to children perform much better. .

(IANS inputs)

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