This week–

STAY-AT-HOME dads really do make a

difference to the success of their

offspring, at least among yellow

baboons. Daughters, and some sons,

who get help from their fathers enjoy

a reproductive head start by maturing

quicker, a new study suggests.

Baboons are not known for mild

manners and gentle parenting, and

males often move on to new groups.

But it seems that males do help their

young a lot. “Sometimes a male will

even adopt an orphaned baby and

carry it around for months,” says

Susan Alberts of Duke University in

Durham, North Carolina.

Alberts and her colleagues tracked

the time 42 male baboons spent in a

social group and measured the age

at which 118 of their children hit

puberty. The longer dad stuck

around, the sooner his daughters

menstruated. Sons matured earlier

too, but only if the father came high

in the social pecking order. “Male

baboons are twice the size of

females, so if boys but not girls have

conflict with adult males, then

maybe it takes high-ranking dads to

protect sons,” says Alberts.

The researchers think that sexual

maturation speeds up because better

food and reduced stress pave the way

for earlier sex hormone activation.

Barbara Smuts at the University

of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who has

seen young baboons try to be

near their fathers when foraging,

agrees. This may make the young feel

safer, allowing them to snatch food

scraps or to dig out treats without

being threatened by bullies.

“Perhaps they learn over time that

when they are in trouble, he’ll be

there,” says Smuts.

Richard Seyfarth of the University

of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,

who previously found lower stress

hormone levels in female baboons

with good male friends, also agrees:

“Such a sense of security could shift

their hormonal balance in favour of

earlier maturation.”

So can human dads also expect

precocious children? Actually, no.

Because fathers are often still around

when their children reach puberty,

early maturation would add to

the risk of incest and father-son

competition. So a dad’s presence

tends to delay sexual maturation in

humans. Baboons don’t have this

problem. “Even the best dads tend

to leave, or die, before their kids

mature, ” says Alberts. Nora Schultz ●

Baby baboons get

head start from

hands-on fathers

–I’ll be there–

JIM

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