Mandrill Mothers Face Higher Pregnancy Loss Risk
A long-term study of wild mandrills in Gabon links caring for an infant to a greater chance of losing a later pregnancy.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Pregnancy
Mandrill females who become pregnant while still caring for a dependent infant face a higher risk of foetal loss, according to a CNRS research team. The risk rises further when the infant shows higher levels of tantrum behaviour.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that the energetic demands of raising an infant can affect reproductive success in wild primates, offering a window into the trade-offs between parenting and future reproduction. The results add to understanding of how social and developmental pressures shape pregnancy outcomes in mammals.
The study tracked 117 wild mandrill females across 356 pregnancies over 11 years at a field site in Gabon. Females who lost a foetus later produced more surviving offspring than females who lost an infant after birth, and the researchers did not yet identify the physiological cause behind the pattern.
The players
CNRS
The French National Centre for Scientific Research is a major public research organisation that led the study team.
PLOS Biology
A peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science, where the findings are due to appear.
The details
Researchers from the CNRS monitored wild mandrills in Gabon using the long-term Mandrillus project. They compared reproductive outcomes of females who lost a foetus with those who gave birth and later lost their infant, finding that the former showed shorter intervals between births over the medium term.
Timeline
The study covers an 11-year monitoring period of the mandrill population.
The findings are scheduled for publication in PLOS Biology on 3 November 2026.
Culture Shift
The study builds on the decade-plus Mandrillus field program in Gabon, which has become a key source of long-term data on wild primate reproduction. Its focus on how maternal care shapes later pregnancy outcomes adds to a growing body of evidence on reproductive trade-offs in wild mammals.
The findings do not change any treatment for humans, but they highlight that caring for a dependent infant can influence the likelihood of a later pregnancy loss. Readers interested in pregnancy health can use the research as a reminder that reproductive outcomes depend on many interacting factors.
The takeaway
Reproductive outcomes in wild primates depend on the demands of existing offspring as well as the current pregnancy. The study underscores how caregiving load and biology interact over time.
What happens next
The full findings are scheduled to be published in PLOS Biology on 3 November 2026.
Further reading
For more on related reproductive health topics, explore our Pregnancy coverage.
