Just as happens among humans, female Bornean orangutans also seek the company of other mothers with children of the same age: they are willing to move more and eat less in order to socialize their young.
Human mothers are used to organizing opportunities for their children to play with other children. And it seems that orangutan mothers do the same, finding themselves with females with babies of a similar age to their own.
The study
Odd Jacobson, of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Konstanz (Germany), and colleagues analyzed observations conducted over 15 years on 31 mothers with their baby Bornean orangutans.
In these primates, which do not live in groups, females have one puppy at a time and raise it until it is seven years old. But for young only children, playing with peers is important for development.
Dating
The researchers found that mothers of similar-aged babies with close territories spent a lot of time in the same area, and on these occasions the babies played together. The encounters were not related to the presence of food. Indeed, the females had to move back and forth and spent less time feeding.
