Doreen Langos (geb. Hess)
Position: PhD student

Jr. Research Group of Primate Kin Selection
Humboldt University Berlin and Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Primatology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
Germany

email: doreen_muesli <at> yahoo.de

Current research

The social systems in many primates are characterized by strong bonds among related females. The close relationship between mothers and their infants is particularly distinctive and of large importance for the infants survival. In contrast, little is known whether fathers also have an impact on the infants’ survival. Most female primates mate with multiple males during likely conception which requires genetic analysis to determine paternity in these species. Since we now have the tools to study the relationship between fathers and offspring, my study aims at investigating whether male rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) develop distinctive relations towards infants. This project is focusing on three parts: (i) the ontogeny of male-infant relationship, (ii) the mechanism/s underlying these relationships (paternal care and/or mating effort), (iii) the effects of male care on the infants’ fitness. My study will combine 4 years of behavioural data (starting from birth of the infants until maturation), morphometric data as well as paternity analysis.
I will collect field data at the Caribbean Primate Research Center (CPRC) of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), USA.

This project started with funding from the Konsul Karl und Dr. Gabriele Sandmann-Stiftung (KKGS) and is now funded by the Elsa-Neumann-Stipendium (ehemals NaFöG) of the Humboldt-University of Berlin as well as the Deutsche Akademische Auslandsdienst (DAAD).