Maternal glucocorticoids and behavior shape offspring developmental trade-offs in wild baboons

Mammalian mothers provide behavioral and physiological signals that offspring use to calibrate development in relation to maternal resources and environmental cues. Infants respond selectively as they prioritize certain developmental systems over others, creating developmental tradeoffs between competing biological systems. Here, we investigate the influence of maternal capital (“investment capacity”) on the growth and development of their infants in wild olive baboons ( Papio anubis ) from Laikipia, Kenya. We posit that maternal capital is influenced by a mother’s own early life experiences (e.g., drought, maternal loss) and her current life experiences (e.g., dominance rank, food availability), and is signaled to offspring via maternal effort (i.e., nursing and carrying time) and glucocorticoids. We used behavioral data on 40 infants (43% female) in the first year of life to quantify maternal effort, infant play, and infant independence (i.e., frequency of infant departures from mother). We matched these behavioral data with maternal fecal glucocorticoid measures from lactating mothers, and infant growth measures assessed via photogrammetry. Signals of low maternal capital predicted lower rates of infant play, less behavioral independence, and slower growth. There was a negative relationship between the rate of social contact play and growth rate, indicating a developmental tradeoff. Males were more sensitive than females to some of the maternal signals measured in our study. These results add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that maternal behavioral and physiological signals shape infant development.