Mother-infant relationships in Japanese macaques: sources of inter-individual variation

A study of a large captive group of mother-infant dyads of Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata, shows that the quality of mother-infant relationship is affected by mother's age and matriline size. Rejection is common among mothers belonging to large matrilines, with older mothers being less protective of their infants. Mother-infant relationship remains unaffected by infant sex, maternal dominance rank and the number of immature offsprings, but is limitedly influenced by maternal experience.