GROOMING BY ADULT BABOONS IN RELATION TO REPRODUCTIVE CYCLES

In the late follicular phase of their menstrual cycle, group-living female baboons were groomed more frequently by males, and they themselves groomed males more and other females less. Females were groomed more by other females when lactating, rather less when pregnant and when deflating (early luteal phase), than average. The increase in male-grooming by swollen females differs from previous findings, it is suggested because of different observation conditions. The reproductive state of the female does not affect the frequency with which she grooms, but only the frequency with which she is groomed. © 1968.