Male gorillas who babysit have five times more babies

ScienceMag.org ^ | Oct 15, 2018 | Ann Gibbons

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When it comes to gorillas, the males who help females out with their infants get benefits. The benefits? More babies. A new study of male gorillas in the wild in Rwanda has found that those who spend the most time grooming infants and resting with them—others’ offspring as well as their own—have about five times more offspring than males who don’t help out with the little ones.

This is surprising, scientists say, because male caretaking isn’t usually considered a smart reproductive strategy in primate species where access to females is intensely competitive. Instead, researchers thought the most successful strategy for males would be to put more time and energy into outcompeting other males for a mate, as chimps do.

That strategy still works for many male gorillas, who dominate small harems of females. But in 40% of the groups of mountain gorillas studied at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Karisoke Research Center in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda there is more than one male in a group, sometimes as many as nine. And those males need to be resourceful to get a female’s attention.

It turns out the way to a mom’s heart is through her offspring, according to the new analysis, published today in Nature Scientific Reports.

Genetic paternity data for 23 adult males and 109 infants, along with 10 to 38 hours of observations for each male gorilla, suggest the more time these “babysitters” spend with infants, the more reproductive success they will have.

The findings could even have implications for the evolution of paternal care in humans, given that we are the only other ape species whose males are willing to help out with the kids.

[dhs12345]

No brainer. Helping with the kiddos is a known aphrodisiac. Just ask my wife.

[Flaming Conservative]

Yep. Good daddies are attractive to most women.

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Women flock to Japan zoo to see 'hunky' gorilla

AFP, via YahooNews ^ | June 25, 2015 | Associated Foreign Press

A giant gorilla with brooding good looks and rippling muscles is causing a stir at a Japanese zoo, with women flocking to check out the hunky pin-up.

Shabani, an 18-year-old silverback who tips the scales at around 180 kilograms (400 pounds), has become the star attraction at Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Nagoya, striking smouldering poses the movie model in "Zoolander" would be proud of.

"He often rests his chin on his hands and looks intently at you," zoo spokesman Takayuki Ishikawa told AFP on Friday.

"He is more buff than most gorillas and he's at his peak physically. We've seen a rise in the number of female visitors -- women say he's very good-looking."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

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[BBQToadRibs]

“No brainer. Helping with the kiddos is a known aphrodisiac. Just ask my wife.”

Doing dishes and laundry got me 4 kids. I’m afraid to think how many more if I scrubbed floors and made beds.

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Japanese women go ape over surprisingly handsome gorilla

By Wilfred Chan and Yoko Wakatsuki, CNN
June 26, 2015

A surprisingly hunky male gorilla, Shabani, has female humans going ape after mugshots of the 18-year-old animal began going viral on Twitter.

Zoo officials tell CNN that young women have been flocking to see the pretty primate, who lives at the Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Nagoya.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/26/asia/handsome-gorilla-shabani/index.html

[dainbramaged]

The male gorillas are obviously smart enough to figure this out on their own.
If they open a machine shop, give me a call.

[dhs12345]

Lol. That works for some women but not most. If men figured out what attracted women, “they'd put it in a bottle and sell it.”

And to most men, women are baffling but we love you just the same.

[Tell It Right]

Helping with the kids is attractive to conservative women...as long as the men still get out and work for a living too.

[Honest Nigerian]

“We [and the gorilla] are the only ape species whose males are willing to help out with the kids”
***********************************************
lousy headline - should read something like this

Male Gorillas Discover Secret to Getting More Gorilla P u $ $ y.
OR -
More Powerful Than a Gorilla on Viagra

You get the idea? ;-]

[blueunicorn6]

Were those babysitter dad gorillas always on the phone when they were supposed to be watching the kid?

[forgotten man]

I am a big fan of my local zoo, especially the gorillas. Gorillas are very difficult to breed because they won’t just “do it” with any gorilla. The chemistry has to be just right for both of them. Most gorillas are more careful in their mating habits than are many humans.

[dgbrown]

“No brainer. Helping with the kiddos is a known aphrodisiac. Just ask my wife.”

Apparently not with my ex.

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[raybbr]

So, we need to stop all those welfare dads from babysitting, right?

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[dhs12345]

Okay, I won’t ask. Bummer.

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