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1 maj 2000 · Reviews previous reports that the maternal behavior of rhesus monkey females who themselves were reared without mothers ("motherless mothers") is generally inadequate and often abusive.
The abusive monkey mothers that display ambivalent maternal behavior seem to be in constant anxiety lest they lose their infants, and, as a result, they seem to have a low threshold for manifesting attachment behavior.
Infant abandonment by monkey mothers in suboptimal conditions for reproduction and parental investment suggests that neglect, at least in its most extreme forms, may be an adaptive behavior. In contrast, several lines of evidence indicate that infant physical abuse is a maladaptive form of aggression or parenting.
Maternal abuse of offspring in macaque monkeys shares some similarities with child maltreatment in humans, including its trans-mission across generations. This study used a longitudinal design and a cross-fostering experiment to investigate whether abusive parenting in rhesus macaques is transmitted from mothers to
Infant abuse in monkeys shares several similarities with child abuse in humans, including its prevalence in the population, the relation between age and vulnerability to abuse, some psycho-logical characteristics of abusive mothers, and the role of psy-chosocial stress in triggering abuse (10).
Infant abandonment by monkey mothers in suboptimal conditions for reproduction and parental investment suggests that neglect, at least in its most extreme forms, may be an adaptive behavior. In contrast, several lines of evidence indicate that infant physical abuse is a maladaptive form of aggression or parenting.
monkey mothers living in large social groups in captivity and in the wild abandon their infants after birth, and others physically abuse them by dragging them, stepping on them, or hitting or biting them
