ArticleeLife2021
Social groups buffer maternal loss in mountain gorillas.
Article in eLife, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Sociability Under Anthropogenic Change: From Individual Behaviour to Population-Level Consequences.Ecology and evolution · 2026Review
- Testing early life effects frameworks: developmental constraints and adaptive response hypotheses do not explain fertility outcomes in wild female baboons.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Multiparous and primiparous mothers partially differ in how they allocate maternal behaviour in captive western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla).Primates; journal of primatology · 2025Article
- Group traits moderate the relationship between individual social traits and fitness in gorillas.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Individual differences in sociocognitive traits in semi-free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).American journal of primatology · 2025Article
- Understanding age and society using natural populations.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Factors shaping socio-emotional trajectories in sanctuary-living bonobos: a longitudinal approach.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Ecological disturbance alters the adaptive benefits of social ties.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Maternal care leads to the evolution of long, slow lives.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Article
- Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Social and early life determinants of survival from cradle to grave: A case study in wild baboons.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Early life adversities and lifelong health outcomes: A review of the literature on large, social, long-lived nonhuman mammals.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Cumulative early-life adversity does not predict reduced adult longevity in wild gorillas.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- Early life adversity and adult social relationships have independent effects on survival in a wild primate.Science advances · 2023Article
- Life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognition.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Article
- Article
- Orphaning stunts growth in wild African elephants.Conservation physiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mothers are crucial for mammals' survival before nutritional independence, but many social mammals reside with their mothers long after. In these species the social adversity caused by maternal loss later in life can dramatically reduce fitness. However, in some human populations these negative consequences can be overcome by care from other group members. We investigated the consequences of maternal loss in mountain gorillas and found no discernible fitness costs to maternal loss through survival, age at first birth, or survival of first offspring through infancy. Social network analysis revealed that relationships with other group members, particularly dominant males and those close in age, strengthened following maternal loss. In contrast to most social mammals, where maternal loss causes considerable social adversity, in mountain gorillas, as in certain human populations, this may be buffered by relationships within cohesive social groups, breaking the link between maternal loss, increased social adversity, and decreased fitness.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.