ArticleEvolutionary human sciences2024
Hunter-Gatherer children's close-proximity networks: Similarities and differences with cooperative and communal breeding systems.
Article in Evolutionary human sciences, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Demography of grandmothering: a case study in Agta foragers.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Patterns of physical activity in hunter-gatherer children compared with US and UK children.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Lonely, stressed-out moms: Does the postindustrial social experience put women at risk for perinatal mood disorders?Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Among vertebrates, allomothering (non-maternal care) is classified as cooperative breeding (help from sexually mature non-breeders, usually close relatives) or communal breeding (shared care between multiple breeders who are not necessarily related). Humans have been described with both labels, most frequently as cooperative breeders. However, few studies have quantified the relative contributions of allomothers according to whether they are (a) sexually mature and reproductively active and (b) related or unrelated. We constructed close-proximity networks of Agta and BaYaka hunter-gatherers. We used portable remote-sensing devices to quantify the proportion of time children under the age of 4 spent in close proximity to different categories of potential allomother. Both related and unrelated, and reproductively active and inactive, campmates had substantial involvement in children's close-proximity networks. Unrelated campmates, siblings and subadults were the most involved in both populations, whereas the involvement of fathers and grandmothers was the most variable between the two populations. Finally, the involvement of sexually mature, reproductively inactive adults was low. Where possible, we compared our findings with studies of other hunter-gatherer societies, and observed numerous consistent trends. Based on our results we discuss why hunter-gatherer allomothering cannot be fully characterised as cooperative or communal breeding.
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