Since fathers day is coming I have found a great story about some primates that take fatherhood very seriously.
The Barbary Macaques males love to carry around and take care of the babies. Ok, some of the males talked about are not all real dads, some of them just borrow babies so they can make friends and gain a bit of cred with the other males.
Because the female Barbarys mate with so many males in the group most of the males don’t really know if they are the father or not so, they just take care of the babies without question of paternity.
The article states that “Lots of primates are suckers for babies”. Some even have hormonal changes when they sense their mates pregnancy. It also shows that some males get heightened stress hormones while holding the infants. Those males use that as a way to show how “macho” they are.
Anyway, they also touch upon a few types of birds and fish that have the males as the main care giver.
So jump on over to Paternal Bonds, Special and Strange. Not only is it educational but, there is a really cute picture of a baby Barbary.