MALE savannah baboons recognise their offspring and defend them in fights. But it is a mystery how they do it because female baboons often mate with many males before giving birth.
Jason Buchan at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and his colleagues have shown that interventions by adult males in fights are not random. They identified the fathers of 75 juveniles in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. In 69 out of 73 fights, males took their son or daughter鈥檚 side (Nature vol 425, p 179). 鈥淭hey generally make life a lot easier for their young,鈥� says Buchan. Defending progeny makes sense as it increases the chances of the male baboon鈥檚 genes being passed on.