Interspecific Infanticide and Infant-Directed Aggression by Spider Monkeys (Ateles hybridus) in a Fragmented Forest in Colombia

PubMed Central

Rimbach, Rebecca; Pardo-Martinez, Alejandra; Montes-Rojas, Andres; Di Fiore, Anthony; Link, Andres

2012-01-01

Interspecific aggression amongst nonhuman primates is rarely observed and has been mostly related to scenarios of resource competition. Interspecific infanticide is even rarer, and both the ultimate and proximate socio-ecological factors explaining this behavior are still unclear. We report two cases of interspecific infanticide and five cases of interspecific infant-directed aggression occurring in a well-habituated primate community living in a fragmented landscape in Colombia. All cases were initiated by male brown spider monkeys (Ateles hybridus) and were directed toward infants of either red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus: n = 6 cases) or white-fronted capuchins (Cebus albifrons: n = 1 case). One individual, a subadult spider monkey male, was involved in all but one case of interspecific infanticide or aggression. Other adult spider monkeys participated in interspecific aggression that did not escalate into potentially lethal encounters. We suggest that competition for food resources and space in a primate community living in high population densities and restricted to a forest fragment of ca. 65 ha might partly be driving the observed patterns of interspecific aggression. On the other hand, the fact that all but one case of interspecific infanticide and aggression involved the only subadult male spider monkey suggests this behavior might either be pathological or constitute a particular case of redirected aggression. Even if the underlying principles behind interspecific aggression and infanticide are poorly understood, they represent an important factor influencing the demographic trends of the primate community at this study site. Am. J. Primatol. 74:990–997, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:22767357

Development-dependent behavioral change toward pups and synaptic transmission in the rhomboid nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis.

PubMed

Amano, Taiju; Shindo, Sayaka; Yoshihara, Chihiro; Tsuneoka, Yousuke; Uki, Haruka; Minami, Masabumi; Kuroda, Kumi O

2017-05-15

Sexually naïve male C57BL/6 mice aggressively bite unfamiliar pups. This behavior, called infanticide, is considered an adaptive reproductive strategy of males of polygamous species. We recently found that the rhomboid nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTrh) is activated during infanticide and that the bilateral excitotoxic lesions of BSTrh suppress infanticidal behavior. Here we show that 3-week-old male C57BL/6 mice rarely engaged in infanticide and instead, provided parental care toward unfamiliar pups, consistent with observations in rats and other rodent species. This inhibition of infanticide at the periweaning period is functional because the next litter will be born at approximately the time of weaning of the previous litter through maternal postpartum ovulation. However, the mechanism of this age-dependent behavioral change is unknown. Therefore, we performed whole-cell patch clamp recordings of BSTrh and compared evoked neurotransmission in response to the stimulation of the stria terminalis of adult and 3-week-old male mice. Although we were unable to detect a significant difference in the amplitudes of inhibitory neurotransmission, the amplitudes and the paired-pulse ratio of evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents differed between adult and 3-week-old mice. These data suggest that maturation of the synaptic terminal in BSTrh that occurred later than 3 weeks after birth may mediate by the adaptive change from parental to infanticidal behavior in male mice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interspecific infanticide and infant-directed aggression by spider monkeys (Ateles hybridus) in a fragmented forest in Colombia.

PubMed

Rimbach, Rebecca; Pardo-Martinez, Alejandra; Montes-Rojas, Andres; Di Fiore, Anthony; Link, Andres

2012-11-01

Interspecific aggression amongst nonhuman primates is rarely observed and has been mostly related to scenarios of resource competition. Interspecific infanticide is even rarer, and both the ultimate and proximate socio-ecological factors explaining this behavior are still unclear. We report two cases of interspecific infanticide and five cases of interspecific infant-directed aggression occurring in a well-habituated primate community living in a fragmented landscape in Colombia. All cases were initiated by male brown spider monkeys (Ateles hybridus) and were directed toward infants of either red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus: n = 6 cases) or white-fronted capuchins (Cebus albifrons: n = 1 case). One individual, a subadult spider monkey male, was involved in all but one case of interspecific infanticide or aggression. Other adult spider monkeys participated in interspecific aggression that did not escalate into potentially lethal encounters. We suggest that competition for food resources and space in a primate community living in high population densities and restricted to a forest fragment of ca. 65 ha might partly be driving the observed patterns of interspecific aggression. On the other hand, the fact that all but one case of interspecific infanticide and aggression involved the only subadult male spider monkey suggests this behavior might either be pathological or constitute a particular case of redirected aggression. Even if the underlying principles behind interspecific aggression and infanticide are poorly understood, they represent an important factor influencing the demographic trends of the primate community at this study site. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abortion, infanticide and moral context.

PubMed

Porter, Lindsey

2013-05-01

In 'After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?', Giubilini and Minerva argue that infanticide should be permitted for the same reasons as abortion. In particular, they argue that infanticide should be permitted even for reasons that do not primarily serve the interests (or would-be best interests) of the newborn. They claim that abortion is permissible for reasons that do not primarily serve the interests (or would-be interests) of the fetus because fetuses lack a right to life. They argue that newborns also lack a right to life, and they conclude that therefore, the same reasons that justify abortion can justify infanticide. This conclusion does not follow. The lack of a right to life is not decisive. Furthermore, the justificatory power of a given reason is a function of moral context. Generalisations about reasons across dissimilar moral contexts are invalid. However, a similar conclusion does follow-that fetus-killing and newborn-killing are morally identical in identical moral contexts-but this conclusion is trivial, since fetuses and newborns are never in identical moral contexts.

Missing girls and son preference in rural India: looking beyond popular myth.

PubMed

Bandyopadhyay, Mridula

2003-12-01

Survival chances of girls in parts of South and East Asia have been adverse. Female foeticide, infanticide, abandonment, out-adoption, under-reporting of female births, and selective neglect of girls leading to higher death rates, have contributed to this adversity. Here, I reflect on an observed skewed sex ratio at birth in rural West Bengal, and discuss female foeticide, infanticide, son preference, and abortion. More boys were recorded at birth, and the majority of women desired sons. Trajectories of selective neglect of and discrimination against daughters have been researched extensively, but the related issues of female foeticide and infanticide have been less examined.

"After birth" abortion: a biomedical and conceptual nonsense.

PubMed

Benagiano, Giuseppe; Landeweerd, Laurens; Brosens, Ivo

2013-07-01

Recently, two authors suggested that killing a healthy newborn might be morally permissible, subsuming it under the heading of 'after birth abortion'. Their proposed new definition implies that infanticide should be permitted whenever II trimester abortion for social reasons is. The suggestion stirred public outcry; nonetheless it needs to be analyzed since some 20% of countries allow II trimester abortion for social reasons and 5% do this on demand. A proper delimitation of the definition of "abortion" is thus very important to ensure careful application; for this reason we have attempted a critical analysis of their arguments. In the area of pregnancy termination different moral standards are apparently applied in different countries, but many reasons exist why the equation between II trimester abortion for social reasons and the killing of healthy neonates is to be morally rejected in all cases. The "inversed reification" of the concept of infanticide as a more abstract, euphemistic 'after birth abortion' blurs the fundamental difference between a non-viable fetus and a viable neonate. The best-known and most widely utilized (although illegal) "social reason" for "late abortion" and "infanticide" is a pregnancy with a female fetus or neonate. If infanticide for neonates were to be considered morally permissible, specifically it is this practice that would be applied. And this should be rejected on two levels: conceptual, through a critique of the exclusive use of one specific notion of personhood, and pragmatic through refusal of gender-discriminatory forms of infanticide (the killing of female neonates). In conclusion, having investigated the new concept we have concluded that the term "after birth abortion" is biologically and conceptually nonsensical.

Determinants of female dispersal in Thomas langurs.

PubMed

Sterck, E H

1997-01-01

Female dispersal occurs in a number of primate species. It may be related to: avoidance of inbreeding, reduction in food competition, reduction of predation risk, or avoidance of infanticide in combination with mate choice. Female dispersal was studied for a 5-year period in a wild population of Thomas langurs (Presbytis thomasi) that lived in one-male multi-female groups. Juvenile and adult individuals of both sexes were seen to disperse. Females appeared to transfer unhindered between groups, mostly from a larger group to a recently formed smaller one. They transferred without their infants and when not pregnant, and seemed to transfer preferentially during periods when extra-group males were harassing their group. During these inter-group encounters extra-group males seemed to try to commit infanticide. Thus, the timing of female transfer was probably closely linked to infanticide avoidance. Moreover, females seemed to transfer when the resident male of their group was no longer a good protector. The observations in the present study suggest that females transferred to reduce the risk of infanticide. Female dispersal may have another ultimate advantage as well, namely inbreeding avoidance. Due to the dispersal of both females and males the social organization of Thomas langurs was rather fluid. New groups were formed when females joined a male; male takeovers were not observed. Bisexual groups had only a limited life span, because all adult females of a bisexual group could emigrate. This pattern of unhindered female dispersal affects male reproductive strategies, and in particular it might lead to infanticidal behavior during inter-group encounters.

The dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide

PubMed Central

Bellemain, Eva; Zedrosser, Andreas; Manel, Stéphanie; Waits, Lisette P; Taberlet, Pierre; Swenson, Jon E

2005-01-01

Because of differential investment in gametes between sexes, females tend to be the more selective sex. Based on this concept, we investigate mate selection in a large carnivore: the brown bear (Ursus arctos). We hypothesize that, in this species with sexually selected infanticide (SSI), females may be faced with a dilemma: either select a high-quality partner based on phenotypic criteria, as suggested by theories of mate choice, or rather mate with future potentially infanticidal males as a counter-strategy to SSI. We evaluated which male characteristics were important in paternity assignment. Among males available in the vicinity of the females, the largest, most heterozygous and less inbred and also the geographically closest males were more often the fathers of the female's next litter. We suggest that female brown bears may select the closest males as a counter-strategy to infanticide and exercise a post-copulatory cryptic choice, based on physical attributes, such as a large body size, reflecting male genetic quality. However, male–male competition either in the form of fighting before copulation or during the post-copulatory phase, in the form of sperm competition, cannot entirely be ruled out. PMID:16543170

Female dispersal, social organization, and infanticide in langurs: are they linked to human disturbance?

PubMed

Sterck, E H

1998-01-01

Female dispersal in gregarious animals can involve the desertion of a site, desertion of a social group, or both. Group desertion may be related to inbreeding avoidance. Group fidelity may result from cooperation among females in a group. Site fidelity will be more likely when food can be monopolized and when the population density is close to habitat saturation. The degree of habitat saturation was approximated with a measure of human disturbance. The influence of these various factors on the incidence of female dispersal was investigated for langur populations using data from the literature. The results suggest that female dispersal in langurs involved site desertion, not group desertion. The incidence of female dispersal may affect the social organization of langurs. I propose that when females do not disperse, male takeovers prevail, whereas in populations where female dispersal regularly occurs bisexual groups are disbanded or new groups are formed, a process I call female split-merger. Male takeover is thought to occur when site fidelity is high, female split-merger when site fidelity is low. These processes were indeed found to occur in these circumstances. The dispersal of females might prevent infanticide, whereas male takeover might promote it. Indeed, in studies with male takeover, more infants fell victim to infanticide than in studies with female split-merger. Therefore, female dispersal in langurs is an effective female counterstrategy to infanticide. The factor that had the most profound effect on female dispersal, social organization, and infanticide was habitat saturation. Habitat saturation was measured as the degree of human disturbance, and its influence on the behavior of langurs is probably of relatively recent date. This may lead to an evolutionary transient situation and may explain the discrepancy between current socioecological theories and the behavior of langurs in populations lacking female dispersal.

The moral status of babies.

PubMed

McGee, Andrew

2013-05-01

In their controversial paper 'After-birth abortion', Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva argue that there is no rational basis for allowing abortion but prohibiting infanticide ('after-birth abortion'). We ought in all consistency either to allow both or prohibit both. This paper rejects their claim, arguing that much-neglected considerations in philosophical discussions of this issue are capable of explaining why we currently permit abortion in some circumstances, while prohibiting infanticide.

Conjuring the ghosts of missing children: a Monte Carlo simulation of reproductive restraint in Tokugawa Japan.

PubMed

Drixler, Fabian F

2015-04-01

This article quantifies the frequency of infanticide and abortion in one region of Japan by comparing observed fertility in a sample of 4.9 million person-years (1660-1872) with a Monte Carlo simulation of how many conceptions and births that population should have experienced. The simulation uses empirical values for the determinants of fertility from Eastern Japan itself as well as the best available studies of comparable populations. This procedure reveals that in several decades of the eighteenth century, at least 40% of pregnancies must have ended in either an induced abortion or an infanticide. In addition, the simulation results imply a rapid decline in the incidence of infanticide and abortion during the nineteenth century, when in a reverse fertility transition, this premodern family-planning regime gave way to a new age of large families.

Infant Mortality Risk and Paternity Certainty Are Associated with Postnatal Maternal Behavior toward Adult Male Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei)

PubMed Central

Rosenbaum, Stacy; Hirwa, Jean Paul; Silk, Joan B.; Vigilant, Linda; Stoinski, Tara S.

2016-01-01

Sexually selected infanticide is an important source of infant mortality in many mammalian species. In species with long-term male-female associations, females may benefit from male protection against infanticidal outsiders. We tested whether mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) mothers in single and multi-male groups monitored by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Karisoke Research Center actively facilitated interactions between their infants and a potentially protective male. We also evaluated the criteria mothers in multi-male groups used to choose a preferred male social partner. In single male groups, where infanticide risk and paternity certainty are high, females with infants <1 year old spent more time near and affiliated more with males than females without young infants. In multi-male groups, where infanticide rates and paternity certainty are lower, mothers with new infants exhibited few behavioral changes toward males. The sole notable change was that females with young infants proportionally increased their time near males they previously spent little time near when compared to males they had previously preferred, perhaps to encourage paternity uncertainty and deter aggression. Rank was a much better predictor of females’ social partner choice than paternity. Older infants (2–3 years) in multi-male groups mirrored their mothers’ preferences for individual male social partners; 89% spent the most time in close proximity to the male their mother had spent the most time near when they were <1 year old. Observed discrepancies between female behavior in single and multi-male groups likely reflect different levels of postpartum intersexual conflict; in groups where paternity certainty and infanticide risk are both high, male-female interests align and females behave accordingly. This highlights the importance of considering individual and group-level variation when evaluating intersexual conflict across the reproductive cycle. PMID:26863300

Détention provisoire des jeunes femmes accusées d'avortement clandestin ou d'infanticide au Sénégal

PubMed Central

Soumah, Mohamed Maniboliot; Pemba, Liliane Flore

2012-01-01

Introduction L'activité sexuelle chez les jeunes les expose à un accroissement du risque de contracter des grossesses non désirées. Le recours à l'avortement clandestin avec son corollaire de complications peut entrainer le décès de la jeune femme. Avortement et infanticide sont interdits et sanctionnés par la loi sénégalaise. Comment ces jeunes femmes vivent-elles leur détention? Existe-il des alternatives à la détention pour éviter leur désocialisation? Méthodes Cette étude rétrospective portait sur la maison d'arrêt des femmes de Dakar située à Liberté 6, un quartier de Dakar. Nous avons procédé à des entretiens avec des femmes détenues à la maison d'arrêt des femmes de Dakar et suspectées d'infanticide ou d'avortement clandestin. Résultats Les femmes de notre échantillon ont une moyenne d’âge inférieure à 25 ans avec parmi elles une fille mineure de 16 ans. Nous avons trouvé 18,51% de femmes suspectées d'infanticide ou d'avortement. Dans notre étude 50% des femmes sont originaires de la périphérie et de la banlieue de Dakar et presque 44% proviennent des autres régions du pays. La durée moyenne de détention provisoire est de neuf mois. Conclusion Malgré leur qualification distincte dans le code pénal: l'infanticide est un crime et l'avortement un délit, les femmes suspectées d'avoir commis ces actes sont soumises à de longues détentions préventives. PMID:22937189

Estimation of gestational age from hand and foot length.

PubMed

Kumar, G P; Kumar, U K

1994-01-01

Abortion, foeticide and infanticide have been practised from time immemorial by both primitive and civilized societies. Establishing the precise duration of gestation is an important point in the total medical evidentiary picture of infanticide. In this study, an attempt has been made to establish the gestational age of the foetus using foot and hand length. This study will be of help in establishing the gestational age when the foetus is fragmented. Results obtained were significant in establishing the gestational age.

Mate replacement and alloparental care in Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Datta, Shubham; Inselman, Will M.; Jenks, Jonathan A.; Jensen, Kent C.; Swanson, Christopher C.; Klaver, Robert W.; Sasmal, Indrani; Grovenburg, Troy W.

2015-01-01

Alloparental care (i.e., care for unrelated offspring) has been documented in various avian species (Maxson 1978, Smith et al. 1996, Tella et al. 1997, Lislevand et al. 2001, Literak and Mraz 2011). A male replacement mate that encounters existing broods has options, which include alloparental care or infanticide. Infanticide may be beneficial in some species (Rohwer 1986, Kermott et al. 1990), but in long-lived avian species, like the ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) that do not renest within a season, infanticide might be detrimental. Adoption and rearing success likely provide direct evidence of competence of replacement mates as potential parents for future seasons, a benefit that might outweigh the investment of time and effort associated with adoption and rearing (after Rohwer 1986). Anticipated mating opportunity at the cost of adoption (Gori et al. 1996, Rohwer et al. 1999) may explain step-parental benevolence and therefore, in such a scenario would enhance individual fitness through subsequent recruitment of related young.

The Viable Violinist.

PubMed

Hawking, Michael

2016-06-01

In the aftermath of the Kermit Gosnell trial and Giubilini and Minerva's article 'After-birth abortion', abortion-rights advocates have been pressured to provide an account of the moral difference between abortion, particularly late-term abortion, and infanticide. In response, some scholars have defended a moral distinction by appealing to an argument developed by Judith Jarvis Thomson in A defense of abortion. However, once Thomson's analogy is refined to account for the morally relevant features of late-term pregnancy, rather than distinguishing between late-term abortion and infanticide, it reinforces their moral similarity. This is because late-term abortion requires more than detachment - it requires an act of feticide to ensure the death of the viable fetus. As such, a Thomsonian account cannot be deployed successfully as a response to Giubilini and Minerva. Those wishing to defend late-term abortion while rejecting the permissibility of infanticide will need to provide an alternative account of the difference, or else accept Giubilini and Minerva's conclusion. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Sport hunting, predator control and conservation of large carnivores.

PubMed

Packer, Craig; Kosmala, Margaret; Cooley, Hilary S; Brink, Henry; Pintea, Lilian; Garshelis, David; Purchase, Gianetta; Strauss, Megan; Swanson, Alexandra; Balme, Guy; Hunter, Luke; Nowell, Kristin

2009-06-17

Sport hunting has provided important economic incentives for conserving large predators since the early 1970's, but wildlife managers also face substantial pressure to reduce depredation. Sport hunting is an inherently risky strategy for controlling predators as carnivore populations are difficult to monitor and some species show a propensity for infanticide that is exacerbated by removing adult males. Simulation models predict population declines from even moderate levels of hunting in infanticidal species, and harvest data suggest that African countries and U.S. states with the highest intensity of sport hunting have shown the steepest population declines in African lions and cougars over the past 25 yrs. Similar effects in African leopards may have been masked by mesopredator release owing to declines in sympatric lion populations, whereas there is no evidence of overhunting in non-infanticidal populations of American black bears. Effective conservation of these animals will require new harvest strategies and improved monitoring to counter demands for predator control by livestock producers and local communities.

Sport Hunting, Predator Control and Conservation of Large Carnivores

PubMed Central

Packer, Craig; Kosmala, Margaret; Cooley, Hilary S.; Brink, Henry; Pintea, Lilian; Garshelis, David; Purchase, Gianetta; Strauss, Megan; Swanson, Alexandra; Balme, Guy; Hunter, Luke; Nowell, Kristin

2009-01-01

Sport hunting has provided important economic incentives for conserving large predators since the early 1970's, but wildlife managers also face substantial pressure to reduce depredation. Sport hunting is an inherently risky strategy for controlling predators as carnivore populations are difficult to monitor and some species show a propensity for infanticide that is exacerbated by removing adult males. Simulation models predict population declines from even moderate levels of hunting in infanticidal species, and harvest data suggest that African countries and U.S. states with the highest intensity of sport hunting have shown the steepest population declines in African lions and cougars over the past 25 yrs. Similar effects in African leopards may have been masked by mesopredator release owing to declines in sympatric lion populations, whereas there is no evidence of overhunting in non-infanticidal populations of American black bears. Effective conservation of these animals will require new harvest strategies and improved monitoring to counter demands for predator control by livestock producers and local communities. PMID:19536277

Policing of reproduction by hidden threats in a cooperative mammal.

PubMed

Cant, Michael A; Nichols, Hazel J; Johnstone, Rufus A; Hodge, Sarah J

2014-01-07

The evolution of cooperation in animal and human societies is associated with mechanisms to suppress individual selfishness. In insect societies, queens and workers enforce cooperation by "policing" selfish reproduction by workers. Insect policing typically takes the form of damage limitation after individuals have carried out selfish acts (such as laying eggs). In contrast, human policing is based on the use of threats that deter individuals from acting selfishly in the first place, minimizing the need for damage limitation. Policing by threat could in principle be used to enforce reproductive suppression in animal societies, but testing this idea requires an experimental approach to simulate reproductive transgression and provoke out-of-equilibrium behavior. We carried out an experiment of this kind on a wild population of cooperatively breeding banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) in Uganda. In this species, each group contains multiple female breeders that give birth to a communal litter, usually on the same day. In a 7-y experiment we used contraceptive injections to manipulate the distribution of maternity within groups, triggering hidden threats of infanticide. Our data suggest that older, socially dominant females use the threat of infanticide to deter selfish reproduction by younger females, but that females can escape the threat of infanticide by synchronizing birth to the same day as older females. Our study shows that reproduction in animal societies can be profoundly influenced by threats that remain hidden until they are triggered experimentally. Coercion may thus extend well beyond the systems in which acts of infanticide are common.

[Infanticide and concealment of pregnancy in Hamburg in the 18. century. Attempt at a sociological and sociomedical analysis].

PubMed

Rodegra, H; Lindeman, M; Ewald, M

1978-01-01

This article illustrates the relationship between the crimes of infanticide and child abandonment and the less well-known crime of concealing an illegitimate pregnancy. Although criminal statistics in a medern sense certainly do not exist for 18th century Hamburg, it is possible to use other available archival material, such as the protocols of the city's major ruling council, to develop some picture of not only the crime but also of the major criminal involved--the unwed mother. This article also deals with the measures taken to prevent these crimes. Although the discussion of punitive measures cannot be neglected, there has been a special attempt made to discuss the philanthropic, educational, and medical means to stop the crime before it has been committed. Particular attention is given to the role of medical personnel, the city's midwives, and a "Geburtshelfer" (male midwives) in uncovering illegitimate pregnancies and registering them with the proper authorities. It is here asserted that such methods were not only directed at preventing infanticides but also at trying to minimize the number of illegitimate and homeless children who inevitably burden the city's charitable institutions.

Infanticide and within-clutch competition select for reproductive synchrony in a cooperative bird.

PubMed

Riehl, Christina

2016-08-01

Reproduction among members of social animal groups is often highly synchronized, but neither the selective advantages nor the proximate causes of synchrony are fully understood. Here I investigate the evolution of hatching synchrony in the Greater Ani (Crotophaga major), a communally nesting bird in which several unrelated females contribute eggs to a large, shared clutch. Hatching synchrony is variable, ranging from complete synchrony to moderate asynchrony, and is determined by the onset of incubation of the communal clutch. Data from a 10-year field study indicate that individual reproductive success is highest in synchronous groups, and that nestlings that hatch in the middle of the hatching sequence are most likely to survive. Nestling mortality is high in asynchronous clutches because early-hatching nestlings are more likely to be killed by adult group members, whereas late-hatching nestlings are more likely to starve due competition with their older nest-mates. Therefore, the timing of hatching appears to be under stabilizing selection from infanticide and resource competition acting in concert. These results provide empirical support for models predicting that synchrony may evolve as an adaptive counter-strategy to infanticide, and they highlight the importance of competition in shaping the timing of reproduction in social groups. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Voluntary exercise at the expense of reproductive success in Djungarian hamsters ( Phodopus sungorus)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petri, Ines; Scherbarth, Frank; Steinlechner, Stephan

2010-09-01

Energy demands of gestation and lactation represent a severe challenge for small mammals. Therefore, additional energetic burdens may compromise successful breeding. In small rodents, food restriction, cold exposure (also in combination) and wheel running to obtain food have been shown to diminish reproductive outcome. Although exhibited responses such as lower incidence of pregnancy, extended lactation periods and maternal infanticide were species dependent, their common function is to adjust energetic costs to the metabolic state reflecting the trade-off between maternal investment and self-maintenance. In the present study, we sought to examine whether voluntary exercise affects reproduction in Djungarian hamsters ( Phodopus sungorus), which are known for their high motivation to run in a wheel. Voluntary exercise resulted in two different effects on reproduction; in addition to increased infanticide and cannibalism, which was evident across all experiments, the results of one experiment provided evidence that free access to a running wheel may prevent successful pregnancy. It seems likely that the impact of voluntary wheel running on reproduction was associated with a reduction of internal energy resources evoked by extensive exercise. Since the hamsters were neither food-restricted nor forced to run in the present study, an energetic deficit as reason for infanticide in exercising dams would emphasise the particularly high motivation to run in a wheel.

Why are potential women being killed?

PubMed

Thomson, A

1993-12-01

The persistence of traditional practices that provide disincentives to having daughters is giving rise to widespread infanticide in India. In a survey conducted in Madras in 1993, over half of the mothers interviewed acknowledged having killed an infant girl. The infanticide rate is believed to be even higher in India's rural areas. Families who can afford ultrasound to determine the fetal sex are reportedly using selective abortion to avert the birth of a daughter. Of 8000 abortions induced in a Bombay clinic, 7999 involved a female fetus. Families cite the financial burden inherent in providing a dowry as the primary reason for female infanticide. Also cited is the need for a son to both provide financial support to parents in old age and to light their funeral pyre. There are reports of mothers who refuse to kill female infants being abandoned or physically battered by their husbands. At present, there are 116 males to every 100 females in India--an imbalance that is likely to increase in the future and make it impossible for many men to form families. Just as television has been implicated in creating a demand for large dowries that would enable husbands' families to purchase Western luxury items, the mass media should use its influence to alter the attitudes that perpetuate the low status of women in India.

Are age and sex differences in brain oxytocin receptors related to maternal and infanticidal behavior in naïve mice?

PubMed

Olazábal, Daniel E; Alsina-Llanes, Marcela

2016-01-01

This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care". There is significant variability in the behavioral responses displayed by naïve young and adult mice when first exposed to pups. This variability has been associated with differences in the expression of oxytocin receptors (OXTRs) in the brain in several species. Experiment I investigated the behavioral responses of juvenile, adolescent, and adult CB57BL/6 males and females when first exposed to pups. We found an age increase in maternal females (11% of juveniles, 20% of adolescents, and 50% of young adults), and infanticidal males (0% of juveniles, 30% of adolescents, 44.5% of young adults, and 100% of older adults). Experiment II investigated OXTR density in the brain of juvenile and adult mice. Our results revealed an age decline in the density of OXTR in several brain regions, including the lateral septum, cingulated and posterior paraventricular thalamic nucleus in both males and females. Adult females had higher OXTR density in the ventromedial nucleus/postero-ventral hypothalamus (VMH) and the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), but lower density in the ventral region of the lateral septum (LSv) than juveniles. Males had lower OXTR density in the anterior olfactory area (AOA) compared to juveniles. No age or sex differences were found in the medial preoptic area, and amygdaloid nuclei, among other brain regions. This study suggests that 1) maturation of parental and infanticidal behavioral responses is not reached until adulthood; 2) the pattern of development of OXTR in the mouse brain is unique, region specific, and differs from that observed in other rodents; 3) either up or down regulation of OXTR in a few brain regions (VMH/AOB/LSv/AOA) might contribute to age or sex differences in parental or infanticidal behavior. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parturition and potential infanticide in free-ranging Alouatta guariba clamitans.

PubMed

Martins, Valeska; Chaves, Óscar M; Neves, Mariana Beal; Bicca-Marques, Júlio César

2015-04-01

Parturition is a key process of mammalian reproduction that is rarely documented in New World monkeys because it often occurs at night. However, diurnal births have been recorded in several species. In howler monkeys (Alouatta spp.) they have often been observed during prolonged resting periods. Similarly, infanticide is a behavior observed quite infrequently. Infanticide in howler monkeys is often inferred from infant deaths or disappearances after group takeovers by nonresident male(s). Here we report the first observation of parturition and birth-related behaviors in the brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba clamitans) and the likely attack on the infant that caused its death. The mother was a multiparous female that lived in a ca. 3-ha Atlantic forest fragment in southern Brazil with nine group mates. The behavior ("all occurrences") sampling method was used to record birth-related behaviors and social interactions. The parturition occurred during the day of 27 October 2013 during a feeding session. The female showed no sign of contraction or birth delivery posture. Parturition began apparently after matrix rupture and release of the amniotic fluid. Expulsion of the newborn occurred between 1 and 3 min later (the exact moment of delivery was not observed). Then, the female held and licked the newborn and began to ingest the placenta and the umbilical cord. The other group members continued feeding and had no interaction with the parturient during the preparturition and parturition events. The infant died ca. 35 days later as a consequence of injuries to his forehead and face, potentially caused by a conspecific bite. Because the adult and subadult males chased the female in the day that the infant's wounds were detected, we believe that one of them might have been the aggressor. We discuss this putative case of infanticide in light of the potential motivation of each male.

Mothers who kill their offspring: testing evolutionary hypothesis in a 110-case Italian sample.

PubMed

Camperio Ciani, Andrea S; Fontanesi, Lilybeth

2012-06-01

This research aimed to identify incidents of mothers in Italy killing their own children and to test an adaptive evolutionary hypothesis to explain their occurrence. 110 cases of mothers killing 123 of their own offspring from 1976 to 2010 were analyzed. Each case was classified using 13 dichotomic variables. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical cluster analysis were performed both for cases and variables, and significant differences between clusters were analyzed. The Italian sample of neonaticides (killings of children within the first day of life) was found to satisfy all evolutionary predictions for an evolved behavioral, emotional and motivational pattern to increase fitness, showing a consistent profile for offending mothers. Relatively young, poor women with no partner kill their offspring non-violently, either directly or through abandonment, and they attempt to conceal the body. These women have no psychopathologies and never attempt suicide after killing their children. All neonaticide cases fall in a single cluster that is distinct from all other offspring killings by mothers. Infanticide (killing of children within the first year of life) and filicide (killing of children after the first year of life) do not significantly differ according to any of the variables measured. The common profile of mothers who have committed infanticide or filicide includes psychopathology, suicide or attempted suicide after killing their children, violent killing of their victims, and no attempt to conceal the victims' bodies. These results suggest that maternal infanticide and filicide represent an improper functioning of adaptation, and their profile are much more variable than those of neonaticide offenders. Our study confirms that only neonaticide is an adaptive reproductive disinvestment, possibly evolved in the remote past, to increase the biological fitness of the mother by eliminating an unwanted newborn and saving resources for future offspring born in better conditions. Neonaticide is shown to be clearly distinct from infanticide and filicide and therefore should be approached, prevented, and judged differently. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Obsessions of infanticide and imminent psychosis.

PubMed

Chapman, A H; Chapman-Santana, M; Teixeira, S A

1996-03-01

In young mothers an obsession of infanticide, that is, fear that they may murder their children, may be coupled with an obsession of imminent psychosis, that is, fear that the first obsession is a sign of approaching insanity. Sixteen mothers with this clinical picture were evaluated in interviews. Seven of them entered psychotherapy and improved. The causative factors in childhood and adolescence wich led to the later development of these obsessive difficulties are analyzed. Even when psychotherapy was not possible, as was the case in nine patients, they should be strongly reassured and explanations should be given about the nature of the problem, for such encouragement and clarification helps them to improve to a significant extent. The prognosis of patients who have systematic psychoterapy is good.

Self-ownership, abortion and infanticide.

PubMed Central

Paul, E F; Paul, J

1979-01-01

Doctors have been placed in an anomalous position by abortion laws which sanction the termination of a fetus while in a woman's womb, yet call it murder when a physician attempts to end the life of a fetus which has somehow survived such a procedure. This predicament, the doctors' dilemma, can be resolved by adopting a strategy which posits the right to ownership of one's own body for human beings. Such an approach will generate a consistent policy prescription, one that sanctions the right of all pregnant women to abortions, yet grants the fetus, after it becomes viable as a potentially independent person, a right to its own body. The doctors' dilemma is surmounted, then, by requiring that abortions of viable fetuses be performed in a manner that will produce a live delivery. Hence, infanticide and termination of viable fetuses are proscribed. PMID:490573

Female sociality and sexual conflict shape offspring survival in a Neotropical primate.

PubMed

Kalbitzer, Urs; Bergstrom, Mackenzie L; Carnegie, Sarah D; Wikberg, Eva C; Kawamura, Shoji; Campos, Fernando A; Jack, Katharine M; Fedigan, Linda M

2017-02-21

Most mammals live in social groups in which members form differentiated social relationships. Individuals may vary in their degree of sociality, and this variation can be associated with differential fitness. In some species, for example, female sociality has a positive effect on infant survival. However, investigations of such cases are still rare, and no previous study has considered how male infanticide might constrain effects of female sociality on infant survival. Infanticide is part of the male reproductive strategy in many mammals, and it has the potential to override, or even reverse, effects of female reproductive strategies, including sociality. Therefore, we investigated the relationships between female sociality, offspring survival, and infanticide risk in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys using long-term data from Santa Rosa, Costa Rica. Female capuchins formed differentiated bonds, and bond strength was predicted by kin relationship, rank difference, and the presence of female infants. Most females formed stable bonds with their top social partners, although bond stability varied considerably. Offspring of highly social females, who were often high-ranking females, exhibited higher survivorship during stable periods compared with offspring of less social females. However, offspring of highly social females were more likely to die or disappear during periods of alpha male replacements, probably because new alpha males are central to the group, and therefore more likely to target the infants of highly social, central females. This study shows that female sociality in mammals can have negative fitness consequences that are imposed by male behavior.

Female sociality and sexual conflict shape offspring survival in a Neotropical primate

PubMed Central

Kalbitzer, Urs; Bergstrom, Mackenzie L.; Carnegie, Sarah D.; Wikberg, Eva C.; Kawamura, Shoji; Campos, Fernando A.; Jack, Katharine M.; Fedigan, Linda M.

2017-01-01

Most mammals live in social groups in which members form differentiated social relationships. Individuals may vary in their degree of sociality, and this variation can be associated with differential fitness. In some species, for example, female sociality has a positive effect on infant survival. However, investigations of such cases are still rare, and no previous study has considered how male infanticide might constrain effects of female sociality on infant survival. Infanticide is part of the male reproductive strategy in many mammals, and it has the potential to override, or even reverse, effects of female reproductive strategies, including sociality. Therefore, we investigated the relationships between female sociality, offspring survival, and infanticide risk in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys using long-term data from Santa Rosa, Costa Rica. Female capuchins formed differentiated bonds, and bond strength was predicted by kin relationship, rank difference, and the presence of female infants. Most females formed stable bonds with their top social partners, although bond stability varied considerably. Offspring of highly social females, who were often high-ranking females, exhibited higher survivorship during stable periods compared with offspring of less social females. However, offspring of highly social females were more likely to die or disappear during periods of alpha male replacements, probably because new alpha males are central to the group, and therefore more likely to target the infants of highly social, central females. This study shows that female sociality in mammals can have negative fitness consequences that are imposed by male behavior. PMID:28167774

Does personality in small rodents vary depending on population density?

PubMed

Korpela, Katri; Sundell, Janne; Ylönen, Hannu

2011-01-01

Personality means an individual's unique way of behaving and reacting to the environment. It is a stable and heritable trait, which is expressed consistently in different situations. The aim of our study was to develop novel tests to depict the personality structure of the bank vole Myodes glareolus, and to determine if the phase of the population cycle, i.e. population density, affects personality. We focused on some central aspects of bank vole behaviour: mobility, risk taking, exploratory behaviour, dominance, and aggressive behaviour towards pups. These behaviours were chosen because they directly affect bank vole survival or fitness or are classified as important factors of personality in other species. In total, 192 males from different populations went through four behavioural tests, in which 20 variables were measured. The tests were repeated after 3 weeks, which verified that all traits were stable, i.e. repeatable between trials. Three personality compounds emerged, named extroversion, novelty seeking and infanticide. Extroversion included dominance and mobility, while novelty seeking consisted of risk taking and exploration. Infanticide encompassed all indices measuring harmful behaviour towards pups. Mobility and dominance were connected, possibly because both seem to depend on condition. Time spent in captivity increased extroversion, which may be explained by good food, stable conditions and acclimation to strong social cues. Novelty seeking was connected to repeatability which could mean that novelty avoiding individuals adjust their behaviour to match new environments. Population density affected the infanticide trait but not novelty seeking or extroversion.

Diets derived from maize monoculture cause maternal infanticides in the endangered European hamster due to a vitamin B3 deficiency

PubMed Central

Handrich, Yves; Dallongeville, Odeline; Robin, Jean-Patrice; Habold, Caroline

2017-01-01

From 1735 to 1940, maize-based diets led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people from pellagra, a complex disease caused by tryptophan and vitamin B3 deficiencies. The current cereal monoculture trend restricts farmland animals to similarly monotonous diets. However, few studies have distinguished the effects of crop nutritional properties on the reproduction of these species from those of other detrimental factors such as pesticide toxicity or agricultural ploughing. This study shows that maize-based diets cause high rates of maternal infanticides in the European hamster, a farmland species on the verge of extinction in Western Europe. Vitamin B3 supplementation is shown to effectively restore reproductive success in maize-fed females. This study pinpoints how nutritional deficiencies caused by maize monoculture could affect farmland animal reproduction and hence their fitness. PMID:28100816

A dubious defense of 'after-birth abortion': A reply to Räsänen.

PubMed

Kaczor, Christopher

2018-02-01

Scholars have offered various critiques of Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva's controversial article, 'After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?' My book The Ethics of Abortion: Women's Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice presents four such critiques. First, Giubilini and Minerva argue from the deeply controversial to the even more controversial. Second, they presuppose a false view of personal identity called body-self dualism. Third, their view cannot secure human equality. And fourth, their account of harm cannot account for harm found in some cases of murder. In the article, 'Pro-life arguments against infanticide and why they are not convincing', J. Räsänen examines and finds wanting these four critiques. This essay responds to Räsänen's defense of infanticide and argues that his responses to the four objections fail. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Birth, meaningful viability and abortion.

PubMed

Jensen, David

2015-06-01

What role does birth play in the debate about elective abortion? Does the wrongness of infanticide imply the wrongness of late-term abortion? In this paper, I argue that the same or similar factors that make birth morally significant with regard to abortion make meaningful viability morally significant due to the relatively arbitrary time of birth. I do this by considering the positions of Mary Anne Warren and José Luis Bermúdez who argue that birth is significant enough that the wrongness of infanticide does not imply the wrongness of late-term abortion. On the basis of the relatively arbitrary timing of birth, I argue that meaningful viability is the point at which elective abortion is prima facie morally wrong. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Diets derived from maize monoculture cause maternal infanticides in the endangered European hamster due to a vitamin B3 deficiency.

PubMed

Tissier, Mathilde L; Handrich, Yves; Dallongeville, Odeline; Robin, Jean-Patrice; Habold, Caroline

2017-01-25

From 1735 to 1940, maize-based diets led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people from pellagra, a complex disease caused by tryptophan and vitamin B3 deficiencies. The current cereal monoculture trend restricts farmland animals to similarly monotonous diets. However, few studies have distinguished the effects of crop nutritional properties on the reproduction of these species from those of other detrimental factors such as pesticide toxicity or agricultural ploughing. This study shows that maize-based diets cause high rates of maternal infanticides in the European hamster, a farmland species on the verge of extinction in Western Europe. Vitamin B3 supplementation is shown to effectively restore reproductive success in maize-fed females. This study pinpoints how nutritional deficiencies caused by maize monoculture could affect farmland animal reproduction and hence their fitness. © 2017 The Author(s).

Male reproductive strategy explains spatiotemporal segregation in brown bears

PubMed Central

Steyaert, Sam MJG; Kindberg, Jonas; Swenson, Jon E; Zedrosser, Andreas

2013-01-01

1. Spatiotemporal segregation is often explained by the risk for offspring predation or by differences in physiology, predation risk vulnerability or competitive abilities related to size dimorphism. 2. Most large carnivores are size dimorphic and offspring predation is often intraspecific and related to nonparental infanticide (NPI). NPI can be a foraging strategy, a strategy to reduce competition, or a male reproductive strategy. Spatiotemporal segregation is widespread among large carnivores, but its nature remains poorly understood. 3. We evaluated three hypotheses to explain spatiotemporal segregation in the brown bear, a size-dimorphic large carnivore in which NPI is common; the ‘NPI – foraging/competition hypothesis', i.e. NPI as a foraging strategy or a strategy to reduce competition, the ‘NPI – sexual selection hypothesis’, i.e. infanticide as a male reproductive strategy and the ‘body size hypothesis’, i.e. body-size-related differences in physiology, predation risk vulnerability or competitive ability causes spatiotemporal segregation. To test these hypotheses, we quantified spatiotemporal segregation among adult males, lone adult females and females with cubs-of-the-year, based on GPS-relocation data (2006–2010) and resource selection functions in a Scandinavian population. 4. We found that spatiotemporal segregation was strongest between females with cubs-of-the-year and adult males during the mating season. During the mating season, females with cubs-of-the-year selected their resources, in contrast to adult males, in less rugged landscapes in relative close proximity to certain human-related variables, and in more open habitat types. After the mating season, females with cubs-of-the-year markedly shifted their resource selection towards a pattern more similar to that of their conspecifics. No strong spatiotemporal segregation was apparent between females with cubs-of-the-year and conspecifics during the mating and the postmating season. 5. The ‘NPI – sexual selection hypothesis’ best explained spatiotemporal segregation in our study system. We suggest that females with cubs-of-the-year alter their resource selection to avoid infanticidal males. In species exhibiting NPI as a male reproductive strategy, female avoidance of infanticidal males is probably more common than observed or reported, and may come with a fitness cost if females trade safety for optimal resources. PMID:23461483

International Population Assistance and Family Planning Programs: Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-06-06

AIDS; ! restoration of maternal health care in locations hit by natural disasters; ! elimination of female genital mutilation ; and ! access by...particularly through the Administrative Procedure Law enacted in October 1990. Chinese authorities have termed female infanticide an “intolerable crime” that

Infanticide risk and the evolution of male-female association in primates.

PubMed

van Schaik, C P; Kappeler, P M

1997-11-22

Year-round association between adult males and females is common in primates, even though internal gestation and lactation predispose males to mate-desertion in the majority of mammals. Because there is little a priori support for alternative explanations, we hypothesized that permanent male-female association in primates serves to reduce the risk of infanticide by strange males whenever females and infants are closely associated. For a phylogenetic test of this hypothesis, we reconstructed the evolution of male-female and female-infant association among primates. The results of Maddison's concentrated changes test confirmed the prediction that mother-infant association, as opposed to infant parking, and female-male association did not evolve independently. Changes in litter size and activity, in contrast, were not significantly associated with evolutionary changes in male-female association. Thus, we demonstrate a fundamental link between primate life history and social behaviour, explain the most basic type of variation in primate social organization, and propose an additional determinant of social organization that may also operate in other mammals.

Infanticide risk and the evolution of male-female association in primates.

PubMed Central

van Schaik, C P; Kappeler, P M

1997-01-01

Year-round association between adult males and females is common in primates, even though internal gestation and lactation predispose males to mate-desertion in the majority of mammals. Because there is little a priori support for alternative explanations, we hypothesized that permanent male-female association in primates serves to reduce the risk of infanticide by strange males whenever females and infants are closely associated. For a phylogenetic test of this hypothesis, we reconstructed the evolution of male-female and female-infant association among primates. The results of Maddison's concentrated changes test confirmed the prediction that mother-infant association, as opposed to infant parking, and female-male association did not evolve independently. Changes in litter size and activity, in contrast, were not significantly associated with evolutionary changes in male-female association. Thus, we demonstrate a fundamental link between primate life history and social behaviour, explain the most basic type of variation in primate social organization, and propose an additional determinant of social organization that may also operate in other mammals. PMID:9404030

Behavioral indicators of ovarian phase in white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus).

PubMed

Carnegie, Sarah D; Fedigan, Linda M; Ziegler, Toni E

2005-09-01

In many primate species, conspicuous behavioral and/or morphological changes are indicators of the fertile phase of the female cycle. However, several primate species, such as the white-faced capuchin, lack these cues. This is referred to as "concealed ovulation," and is argued to be a reproductive strategy that confuses paternity and lowers the risk of infanticide. We studied 10 adult female white-faced capuchins in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica, from January to June 2002. We determined their ovarian cycling patterns by analyzing fecal ovarian hormones, and compared simultaneously collected behavioral data to determine which, if any, cues females use to signal their fertile phases. We found that four females cycled during the study period but ceased to cycle without becoming pregnant. We considered several explanations for the lack of conception during our study, including reproductive seasonality. We found that female C. capucinus showed only small increases in rates of affiliative/proceptive behaviors directed toward adult males during their periovulatory phases. The best indicator of cycle phase was a significant increase in male affiliative behaviors (e.g., following and grooming bouts) and sexual behaviors (e.g., copulations and courtship displays) directed toward females during the periovulatory phase compared to the nonovulatory phase. Our finding that females exhibit little proceptive behavior, but that copulations and male courtship are nonetheless concentrated in periovulatory phases suggests that even though females do not provide behavioral and morphological cues to ovulation, males are still able to detect it. Infanticide occurs with some frequency in these monkeys, and there is evidence for postconceptive mating as a female strategy to lower risk of infanticide via paternity confusion. However, despite this occurrence of nonconceptive mating and the absence of female cues to ovulation, truly concealed ovulation does not appear to be characteristic of this study population of white-faced capuchins.

Gender differences in jurors' perceptions of infanticide involving disabled and non-disabled infant victims.

PubMed

Bottoms, Bette L; Kalder, Alaine K; Stevenson, Margaret C; Oudekerk, Barbara A; Wiley, Tisha R; Perona, Alison

2011-02-01

The present study investigated the influence of juror gender and infant victim disability on jurors' reactions to infanticide cases. Participants (men and women undergraduates) read a summary of a mock trial involving alleged father-perpetrated infanticide. The infant was described as severely mentally disabled or as not disabled. Participants completed a series of case-related judgments (e.g., guilt; sentence; and empathy, sympathy, and similarity toward the defendant and victim). There were pervasive gender differences such that compared to men, women mock jurors rendered more guilty verdicts, perceived the father/defendant as having greater intent to kill his infant, and felt less similar to the defendant. Compared to men, women also believed the father was more responsible and the pneumonia was less responsible for the infant's death, had less sympathy and empathy for the defendant, endorsed more negative beliefs about the father, and were more likely to believe the infant was a unique person. Mediational analyses revealed that these statistically significant effects were explained, in part, by gender differences in attitudes toward the defendant. Further, whether the infant victim was portrayed as severely disabled (versus developmentally normal) had little effect on central case judgments such as verdict, but jurors who believed the infant was severely disabled gave significantly shorter sentences to the defendant, were less likely to perceive the defendant as mentally ill, and felt significantly less empathy for and similarity to the infant victim. Although juror gender consistently predicted juror's judgments, there were fewer effects of disability status. Even so, bias against disabled infants manifested for several dependant variables. This research can inform legal professionals about the potential for bias in juror decision-making, and in turn, help facilitate fairness and justice for the youngest and most vulnerable victims of child abuse. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Despotism and risk of infanticide influence grizzly bear den-site selection.

PubMed

Libal, Nathan S; Belant, Jerrold L; Leopold, Bruce D; Wang, Guiming; Owen, Patricia A

2011-01-01

Given documented social dominance and intraspecific predation in bear populations, the ideal despotic distribution model and sex hypothesis of sexual segregation predict adult female grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) will avoid areas occupied by adult males to reduce risk of infanticide. Under ideal despotic distribution, juveniles should similarly avoid adult males to reduce predation risk. Den-site selection and use is an important component of grizzly bear ecology and may be influenced by multiple factors, including risk from conspecifics. To test the role of predation risk and the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation, we compared adult female (n = 142), adult male (n = 36), and juvenile (n = 35) den locations in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA. We measured elevation, aspect, slope, and dominant land cover for each den site, and used maximum entropy modeling to determine which variables best predicted den sites. We identified the global model as the best-fitting model for adult female (area under curve (AUC) = 0.926) and elevation as the best predictive variable for adult male (AUC = 0.880) den sites. The model containing land cover and elevation best-predicted juvenile (AUC = 0.841) den sites. Adult females spatially segregated from adult males, with dens characterized by higher elevations (mean= 1,412 m, SE = 52) and steeper slopes (mean = 21.9°, SE = 1.1) than adult male (elevation: mean = 1,209 m, SE = 76; slope: mean = 15.6°, SE = 1.9) den sites. Juveniles used a broad range of landscape attributes but did not avoid adult male denning areas. Observed spatial segregation by adult females supports the sex hypothesis of sexual segregation and we suggest is a mechanism to reduce risk of infanticide. Den site selection of adult males is likely related to distribution of food resources during spring.

Child homicide by parents in Chile: a gender-based study and analysis of post-filicide attempted suicide.

PubMed

Benítez-Borrego, Sonia; Guàrdia-Olmos, Joan; Aliaga-Moore, Alvaro

2013-01-01

The victimization of children has attracted considerable attention over the years. Some authors conceptualize child murder as an intra-familial phenomenon. Over the last 40 years, extensive literature has suggested that there are differences between neonaticide and infanticide, and differential characteristics between filicidal men and women. Although suicide attempts after these crimes have not been as widely studied, there are some distinctive features compared to non-suicidal filicide. The main objective of the current study was to analyze the phenomenon of filicide in the Chilean population. The sample consisted of 98 cases of filicide committed in Chile between 1998 and 2009 that were evaluated in the Area of Mental Health of the Legal Medical Service (LMS) of Santiago, Chile. Forensic reports including psychiatric and psychological evaluations of the perpetrators were reviewed and variables extracted. Bivariate analyses were used to determine differences between male and female filicide perpetrators and the possible differences between the presence and absence of a suicide attempt following filicide on selected demographic, situational, and psychopathological variables. Then, logistic regression was used to identify which of the variables may be relevant (significant predictors) to the presence of a suicide attempt following the commission of an infanticide. Analysis of the data revealed differences between filicidal men and women with regard to demographic characteristics, but the differences in psychopathological factors and variables that were related to the crimes were minor. A comparative analysis of the filicide perpetrators based on post-crime suicide attempts did not find significant differences between groups. In addition, a predictive analysis of suicidal behavior concludes that individual variables (such as the level of education of the person committing infanticide and the method used for the homicide) are not sufficient to explain the entire phenomenon by themselves. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Dark Figure of Infanticide in England and Wales: Complexities of Diagnosis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brookman, Fiona; Nolan, Jane

2006-01-01

Infants aged younger than 12 months have the highest homicide victimization rate of any single age group in England and Wales. In addition, there are good grounds for believing that the official homicide statistics for this particular age group are an underestimate and subject to distortion. At the same time there is evidence mounting in the…

Motives for maternal filicide: results from a study with female forensic patients.

PubMed

Krischer, Maya K; Stone, Michael H; Sevecke, Kathrin; Steinmeyer, Eckhard M

2007-01-01

The objective of this study was to examine different motivational factors, leading mothers to commit neonaticidal, infanticidal or filicidal acts. This study was based on data gathered through a retrospective chart review of all filicidal women admitted to the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in New York State (MHFPC) between 1976 and 2000 (n=57). Because our sample was drawn from MHFPC records it excludes filicidal mothers who went directly to prison. Our women were either found not competent to stand trial, or found not guilty by reason of insanity, or were convicted offenders who were seriously mentally ill and were not sent to prison. Fourteen percent committed neonaticide, meaning that they killed their child within the first day of its life; 21% killed the child after the first day but before it reached its first birthday (infanticide); and 65% committed filicide by murdering a child older than one. Two groups of women could be identified as having different motivational profiles: The neonaticidal mothers were mostly troubled by psychosis and social problems while the filicidal women were defined as severely depressed, with a history of self-directed violence and a high rate of suicide attempts following the filicidal offense.

A sociobiological origin of pregnancy failure in domestic dogs

PubMed Central

Bartoš, Luděk; Bartošová, Jitka; Chaloupková, Helena; Dušek, Adam; Hradecká, Lenka; Svobodová, Ivona

2016-01-01

Among domestic dog breeders it is common practice to transfer a domestic dog bitch out of her home environment for mating, bringing her back after the mating. If the home environment contains a male, who is not the father of the foetuses, there is a potential risk of future infanticide. We collected 621 records on mating of 249 healthy bitches of 11 breed-types. The highest proportion of successful pregnancies following mating occurred in bitches mated within their home pack and remaining there. Bitches mated elsewhere and then returned to a home containing at least one male had substantially lower incidence of maintained pregnancy in comparison with bitches mated by a home male. After returning home, housing affected strongly the frequency of pregnancy success. Bitches mated elsewhere but released into a home pack containing a home male were four times more likely to maintain pregnancy than bitches which were housed individually after returning home. Suppression of pregnancy in situations where a bitch is unable to confuse a home male about parentage may be seen as an adaptation to avoid any seemingly unavoidable future loss of her progeny to infanticide after birth and thus to save energy. PMID:26917034

Media Impact on Girls in the US, China and India through a Gendered Filter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Kristie

2012-01-01

While infanticide or sex selective abortion in rural areas of the world may seem to have little to do with a famous musician who is a domestic abuser from the first world who avoids criminal punishment while being applauded and glamourized, the message going out to girls is consistent: they are not valued in the same way that boys are. In order to…

[Insights into the state of data about neglect and abuse of children in Germany. Possibilities and limitations of health, crime and social statistics].

PubMed

Fendrich, S; Pothmann, J

2010-10-01

The present database concerning the extent of neglect and abuse of children in Germany and accordingly the endangerment of their health and well-being has to be considered as deficient. Yet the degree of danger is indicated by sporadic empirical research as well as the police statistics on criminality, the health statistics and the official statistics on child and youth welfare. In contrast to the general public opinion the analyses of the available data have shown a stagnation in the infanticide rate at a historically low level and even a decline in infanticide in recent years. Meanwhile, according to statistics the sensitivity to the threats of neglect and abuse of children is increasing. Especially the clarification of the order for protection in the Child and Youth Welfare Act (§ 8a SGB VIII) contributed to the raised interest and attention from child and youth welfare services. However, these contexts are insufficiently researched, which makes an improvement of the database inevitable. Therefore, a continuous registration and documentation of cases of child neglect and abuse is necessary. A promising option to attain a significant database is a routine collection of data in the context of an official statistic by the child and youth welfare departments.

Yanomamo ecology, population control, and their relationship to slash and burn agriculture.

PubMed

Owl, M Y

1976-01-01

Population control among the Yanomamo tribe of the Amazonian tropical rainforest is studied. 25% of male deaths are due to warfare. A male-female balance is achieved by the practice of infantcide, especially among female infants. The male:female ratio among the under-15 age group is 135:100, belying the tribe's contention that neither sex is more likely to be killed than the other. The major population controlffactor, however, is disease with about 54.2% of adult deaths due to malaria, and other communicable disease accounting for 11.7%. Other population controls are abortion and postnatal sex taboos, although the latter is for the most part overruled by the practice of infanticide for any child born while a previous child is still nursing. The intense intervillage warfare is increased by the shortage of women, resulting from female infanticide combined with polygamy and marriage alliances in which even unborn females are promised. Because there is war, male children are preferred and the cycle continues. Other observers, however, feel that the constant warfare is part of the need for new garden sites brought about by reliance on slash and burn agriculture. The author believes the shortage of women is just a side effect of population control occasioned by a protein shortage.

Female reproductive strategies in orangutans, evidence for female choice and counterstrategies to infanticide in a species with frequent sexual coercion

PubMed Central

Knott, Cheryl Denise; Emery Thompson, Melissa; Stumpf, Rebecca M.; McIntyre, Matthew H.

2010-01-01

Intersexual conflicts over mating can engender antagonistic coevolution of strategies, such as coercion by males and selective resistance by females. Orangutans are exceptional among mammals for their high levels of forced copulation. This has typically been viewed as an alternative mating tactic used by the competitively disadvantaged unflanged male morph, with little understanding of how female strategies may have shaped and responded to this behaviour. Here, we show that male morph is not by itself a good predictor of mating dynamics in wild Bornean orangutans but that female conception risk mediated the occurrence and quality of male–female interactions. Near ovulation, females mated cooperatively only with prime flanged males who they encountered at higher rates. When conception risk was low, willingness to associate and mate with non-prime males increased. Our results support the hypothesis that, together with concealed ovulation, facultative association is a mechanism of female choice in a species in which females can rarely avoid coercive mating attempts. Female resistance, which reduced copulation time, may provide an additional mechanism for mate selection. However, coercive factors were also important as prime males were frequently aggressive to females and females used mating strategies consistent with infanticide avoidance. PMID:19812079

Blurring reality with fiction: Exploring the stories of women, madness, and infanticide.

PubMed

Jefferies, Diana; Horsfall, Debbie; Schmied, Virginia

2017-02-01

Often, there is a sense of shock and disbelief when a mother murders her child. Yet, literary texts (plays, poems and novels) contain depictions of women experiencing mental illness or feelings of desperation after childbirth who murder their children. To further understand why a woman may harm her child we examine seven literary texts ranging in time and place from fifth century BCE Greece to twenty-first century Australia. A textual analysis approach examined how the author positioned the woman in the text, how other characters in the text reacted to the woman before, during, and after the mental illness or infanticide, and how the literary or historical critical literature sees the woman. Three important points about the woman's experience were revealed: she is represented as morally ambiguous and becomes marginalised and isolated; she is depicted as murdering or abandoning her child because she is experiencing mental illness and/or she is living in desperate circumstances; and she believes there is no other option. Literary texts can shed light on socio-psychological struggles women experience and can be used to stimulate discussion by healthcare professionals about the development of preventative or early intervention strategies to identify women at risk. Copyright © 2016 Australian College of Midwives. All rights reserved.

Child murder by mothers: patterns and prevention

PubMed Central

HATTERS FRIEDMAN, SUSAN; RESNICK, PHILLIP J

2007-01-01

The tragedy of maternal filicide, or child murder by mothers, has occurred throughout history and throughout the world. This review of the research literature sought to identify common predictors in the general population as well as in correctional and psychiatric samples. Further research is needed to improve identification of children and mothers at risk. Infanticide laws are discussed. Suggestions for prevention are made based on the current literature and the authors' experiences. PMID:18188430

Changes in the differential treatment of Rajput girls in Khalapur: 1955-1975.

PubMed

Minturn, L

1984-01-01

This article reports on data collected during 2 field trips to Khalapur. The 1st, 1954-55, focused on child rearing. The 2nd, 1974-75, focused on changes in the status of Rajput women. In 1955, neglect of girls, particularly those suffering from longterm illness, resulted in sufficient female mortality to produce a striking preponderance of boys. In 1975, the number of children in the original families sampled had increased from 128 to 250, a rise of 277% in total number of living offspring. In the 1975 sample, 45% were girls. The factors that contributed to this increase in viability of daughters are examined. The overall health of the children had improved from the 50s to the 70s. The improvement in health may be linked to better nutrition and preventive medicine and to the presence of a government sponsored village health center. In 1975, the village had also acquired a semi-skilled midwife. Mothers' reports indicate that there is a 10% difference in the use of this more highly paid midwife to deliver boys. Education emerges as another important factor. In 1975, 75% of Rajput girls between 6-20 were literate or in school, a dramatic 61% increase from the 14% reported in 1955. Moreover, all of the children of educated mothers were in school. The increase in school enrollment figures reflect this improvement in girls' education. Norms for early marriage present strong barriers for college education of women. The greater education of Khalapur women seems to have emerged from the increased education of men. Educated men prefer literate wives. Therefore education becomes an asset in arranging a good marriage for daughters. The government has encouraged education and has facilitated that of girls by not requiring them to pay tuition in elementary school. Despite the obvious improvement in the treatment of girls, some evidence of differential neglect persists. Nonetheless, for the Khalapur Rajput, the overall picture is one of optimism. Finally, it is argued that in view of the extensive literature on the rare practice of female infanticide, it is somewhat surprising that indirect female infanticide from medical and nutritional neglect of girls, has received little attention, since indirect infanticide is probably more widespread and frequent.

Violence against women.

PubMed

1995-04-01

Domestic violence constitutes historical behavior in accord with patriarchal systems. Family and domestic violence includes female infanticide, higher female mortality, female genital mutilation, bride burning, rape, wife battering, and early marriage. These practices are commonly integrated into values and beliefs. Women accept domestic violence in violation of their basic human rights due to social prejudice and low self esteem. Mothers who perpetuate female genital mutilation believe that they are acting in the best interests of the child by adhering to centuries-long traditions. Women who allow female infanticide or female abortion are motivated to do so in order to maintain the security of their marriage. Women are in unequal power relationships and submit to their own detriment. Negative attitudes against women are perpetuated through incorrect interpretations of religious principles and myths. Economic self-reliance gives women the courage to stand up against domestic violence. Empowerment through education and appropriate and protective legislation also gives women the means to fight violence. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) at the national, regional, and international levels are active in creating awareness of domestic violence and influencing policy change. The NGO Working Group on Traditional Practices and the Inter-African Committee have a 10-year history of fighting against practices such as female genital mutilation. In order to bring about change, there must be cooperative and joint action among governmental and inter-governmental groups and NGOs.

A newborn infant chimpanzee snatched and cannibalized immediately after birth: Implications for "maternity leave" in wild chimpanzee.

PubMed

Nishie, Hitonaru; Nakamura, Michio

2018-01-01

This study reports on the first observed case of a wild chimpanzee infant being snatched immediately after delivery and consequently cannibalized by an adult male in the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. We demonstrate "maternity leave" from long-term data from the Mahale M group and suggest that it functions as a possible counterstrategy of mother chimpanzees against the risk of infanticide soon after delivery. The subjects of this study were the M group chimpanzees at Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. The case of cannibalism was observed on December 2, 2014. We used the long-term daily attendance record of the M group chimpanzees between 1990 and 2010 to calculate the lengths of "maternity leave," a perinatal period during which a mother chimpanzee tends to hide herself and gives birth alone. We observed a very rare case of delivery in a wild chimpanzee group. A female chimpanzee gave birth in front of other members, and an adult male snatched and cannibalized the newborn infant immediately after birth. Using the long-term data, we demonstrate that the length of "maternity leave" is longer than that of nonmaternity leave among adult and adolescent female chimpanzees. We argue that this cannibalism event immediately after birth occurred due to the complete lack of "maternity leave" of the mother chimpanzee of the victim, who might lack enough experience of delivery. We suggest that "maternity leave" taken by expecting mothers may function as a possible counterstrategy against infanticide soon after delivery. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

China's one-child family: a famine-forced decision.

PubMed

1985-01-01

The Reagan administration refuses to recognize the achievements of China's population program and the practical and humanitarian considerations which lead to China's adoption of vigorous family planning policies. China began to express concern about population growth in 1960, and this concern was, in part, prompted by a severe famine. The occurence of the famine was only recently brought to the attention of the rest of the world when demographers uncovered statistical evidence indicating that as many as 30 million Chinese may have perished in the 1958-62 famine. The famine was due both to faulty agricultural policies and to severe crop damage in 1959 and 1960. The family planning program initiated in 1960 was interrupted by the cultural revolution, and the effort to control population growth was not reinstituted until the early 1970s. By 1979 childbearing among the postwar baby boom generation boosted population growth rates to a new high, and the government began advocating a 1-child family. The national census of 1982 revealed that China's population doubled between 1949-1982 and in 1982 exceeded 1 billion. Severe famine and economic chaos were forecasted for the near future if population growth was not severely and immediately curbed. The government responded to this impending threat by instituting stringent measures to restrict 2nd order births. Abortion was permitted for cases of contraceptive failure; however, the government warned that severe penalties would be imposed on anyone who tried to ensure that their 1 child was a son by practicing female infanticide, a traditional but illegal practice. The government admits that some couples, under extreme pressure from local officials, resorted to infanticide. The Reagan administration used the infanticide issue to descredit the Chinese population program, and recently announced its intention to withhold US$10 million in previously approved funding from the UN Fund for Population Activities because the agency provided support for China's coercive population program. The administration also voiced its distorted preceion of China's program at the 1984 International Conference on Population. James Buckley, the administration's delegate to the conference, blamed state controlled economies for interfering with natural mechanisms for slowing population growth. In reality, China's progress in controlling population growth accounts for almost all of the 20% reduction in the world's population growth rate, since the late 1960s. By slowing the world's population growth rate, China contributed not only to it own economic well-being but to the economic well-being of all nations including the US. Yet Reagan condemns rather than praises China for enduring the hardship of controlling its fertility.

Homicide in childhood: a public health problem in need of attention.

PubMed Central

Christoffel, K K

1984-01-01

Homicide is now among the five leading causes of death in childhood, accounting for 1/20 deaths of those less than 18 years of age. Based on childrens' changing developmental vulnerabilities, it is possible to characterize three subtypes of child homicide--infanticide, fatal child abuse and neglect after infancy, and homicide in the community. Specific approaches to primary prevention include measures to strengthen families and their community support systems, and to educate adults and children concerning appropriate behaviors of children at different ages. PMID:6689845

Kuhse, Singer and slippery slopes.

PubMed Central

Fairbairn, G J

1988-01-01

Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer recently examined the view expressed by John Lorber that whereas at times it is permissible to allow severely handicapped infants to die, killing them must never be allowed. In attempting to demonstrate the mistaken nature of Lorber's fear that allowing active infanticide would lead us onto a slippery slope Kuhse and Singer make much use of John Harris's paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics in which he criticised Lorber's views. This paper examines some aspects of the case advanced by Kuhse and Singer and of the earlier paper by Harris. PMID:2972837

Experimental test of female black howler monkey (Alouatta Pigra) responses to loud calls from potentially infanticidal males: effects of numeric odds, vulnerable offspring, and companion behavior.

PubMed

Kitchen, Dawn M

2006-09-01

During group defense, the contribution of female black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) may help deter male intruders; however, their involvement during natural intergroup encounters is facultative. Experimental playback trials simulating potentially infanticidal males were used to examine whether a female's reproductive investment and/or her group's relative fighting ability would influence her participation in loud call displays. Female howlers never responded to recordings without alpha male accompaniment, but their response patterns did not simply mimic his. For example, unlike alpha males, females with small, vulnerable offspring were no more likely than females without infants to participate in howling displays during playback trials. Further, although females without any small infants in their group got closer to speakers than females living in groups with small infants, males did not respond in the same way. To artificially simulate different "numeric odds" scenarios, recordings of one or three howling males (simulated intruders) were broadcast to females living in groups with 1-3 resident males. Responses were consistent with the hypothesis that females assessed intergroup fighting ability. As in alpha males, the weakest female responses occurred when the numeric odds were against their group. However, whereas alpha males participated most when numeric odds were in their favor, females had the most intense approach responses when the number of defending and intruding males was equal. Females appeared to use a cost-effective strategy, reserving their assistance for when their participation could have the greatest impact. 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Detection of pup odors by non-canonical adult vomeronasal neurons expressing an odorant receptor gene is influenced by sex and parenting status.

PubMed

Nakahara, Thiago S; Cardozo, Leonardo M; Ibarra-Soria, Ximena; Bard, Andrew D; Carvalho, Vinicius M A; Trintinalia, Guilherme Z; Logan, Darren W; Papes, Fabio

2016-02-15

Olfaction is a fundamental sense through which most animals perceive the external world. The olfactory system detects odors via specialized sensory organs such as the main olfactory epithelium and the vomeronasal organ. Sensory neurons in these organs use G-protein coupled receptors to detect chemosensory stimuli. The odorant receptor (OR) family is expressed in sensory neurons of the main olfactory epithelium, while the adult vomeronasal organ is thought to express other types of receptors. Here, we describe Olfr692, a member of the OR gene family identified by next-generation RNA sequencing, which is highly upregulated and non-canonically expressed in the vomeronasal organ. We show that neurons expressing this gene are activated by odors emanating from pups. Surprisingly, activity in Olfr692-positive cells is sexually dimorphic, being very low in females. Our results also show that juvenile odors activate a large number of Olfr692 vomeronasal neurons in virgin males, which is correlated with the display of infanticide behavior. . In contrast, activity substantially decreases in parenting males (fathers), where infanticidal aggressive behavior is not frequently observed. Our results describe, for the first time, a sensory neural population with a specific molecular identity involved in the detection of pup odors. Moreover, it is one of the first reports of a group of sensory neurons the activity of which is sexually dimorphic and depends on social status. Our data suggest that the Olfr692 population is involved in mediating pup-oriented behaviors in mice.

Infanticide: a reply to Giubilini and Minerva

PubMed Central

Laing, Jacqueline A

2013-01-01

Alberto Giubilini and Francesco Minerva's recent infanticide proposal is predicated on their personism and actualism. According to these related ideas, human beings achieve their moral status in virtue of the degree to which they are capable of laying value upon their lives or exhibiting certain qualities or being desirable to third-party family members. This article challenges these criteria, suggesting that these and related ideas are rely on arbitrary and discriminatory notions of human moral status. Our propensity to sleep, fall unconscious, pass out and so on, demonstrates that we often exhibit our status as ‘potential persons’ who are not in the condition of attributing any value to their own existence. Our abilities, age and desirability can and do fluctuate. The equal dignity principle, distinguished in turn from both the excesses of vitalism and consequentialism, is analysed and defended in the context of human rights logic and law. The normalisation of non- and involuntary euthanasia, via such emerging practices as the self-styled Groningen Protocol, is considered. Substituted consent to the euthanasia of babies and others is scrutinised and the implications of institutionalising non-voluntary euthanasia in the context of financial, research and political interests are considered. The impact on the medical and legal professions, carers, families and societies, as well as public attitudes more generally, is discussed. It is suggested that eroding the value of human life carries with it significant destructive long-term implications. To elevate some, often short-term, implications while ignoring others demonstrates the irrational nature of the effort to institutionalise euthanasia. PMID:23637448

Gender Differences in Homicide of Neonates, Infants, and Children under 5 y in South Africa: Results from the Cross-Sectional 2009 National Child Homicide Study.

PubMed

Abrahams, Naeemah; Mathews, Shanaaz; Martin, Lorna J; Lombard, Carl; Nannan, Nadine; Jewkes, Rachel

2016-04-01

Homicide of children is a global problem. The under-5-y age group is the second largest homicide age group after 15-19 y olds, but has received little research attention. Understanding age and gender patterns is important for assisting with developing prevention interventions. Here we present an age and gender analysis of homicides among children under 5 y in South Africa from a national study that included a focus on neonaticide and infanticide. A retrospective national cross-sectional study was conducted using a random sample of 38 medico-legal laboratories operating in 2009 to identify homicides of children under 5 y. Child data were abstracted from the mortuary files and autopsy reports, and both child and perpetrator data data were collected from police interviews. We erred towards applying a conservative definition of homicide and excluded sudden infant death syndrome cases. We estimated that 454 (95% CI 366, 541) children under the age of 5 y were killed in South Africa in 2009. More than half (53.2%; 95% CI 46.7%, 59.5%) were neonates (0-28 d), and 74.4% (95% CI 69.3%, 78.9%) were infants (under 1 y), giving a neonaticide rate of 19.6 per 100,000 live births and an infanticide rate of 28.4 per 100,000 live births. The majority of the neonates died in the early neonatal period (0-6 d), and abandonment accounted for 84.9% (95% CI 81.5%, 87.8%) of all the neonates killed. Distinct age and gender patterns were found, with significantly fewer boy children killed in rural settings compared to urban settings (odds ratio 0.6; 95% CI 0.4, 0.9; p = 0.015). Abuse-related killings and evidence of sexual assault were more common among older girls than in all other age and gender groups. Mothers were identified as the perpetrators in all of the neonaticides and were the most common perpetrators overall (71.0%; 95% CI 63.9%, 77.2%). Abandoned neonates were mainly term babies, with a mean gestational age of 38 wk. We did not have information on abandonment motives for all newborns and did not know if babies were abandoned with the intention that they would die or with the hope that they would be found alive. We therefore considered all abandoned babies as homicides. Homicide of children is an extreme form or consequence of violence against children. This national study provides one of the first analyses of neonaticide and infanticide by age and gender and shows the failure of reproductive and mental health and social services to identify and help vulnerable mothers. Multi-sectoral prevention strategies are needed.

Predation and infanticide influence ideal free choice by a parrot occupying heterogeneous tropical habitats.

PubMed

Bonebrake, Timothy C; Beissinger, Steven R

2010-06-01

The ideal free distribution (IFD) predicts that organisms will disperse to sites that maximize their fitness based on availability of resources. Habitat heterogeneity underlies resource variation and influences spatial variation in demography and the distribution of populations. We relate nest site productivity at multiple scales measured over a decade to habitat quality in a box-nesting population of Forpus passerinus (green-rumped parrotlets) in Venezuela to examine critical IFD assumptions. Variation in reproductive success at the local population and neighborhood scales had a much larger influence on productivity (fledglings per nest box per year) than nest site or female identity. Habitat features were reliable cues of nest site quality. Nest sites with less vegetative cover produced greater numbers of fledglings than sites with more cover. However, there was also a competitive cost to nesting in high-quality, low-vegetative cover nest boxes, as these sites experienced the most infanticide events. In the lowland local population, water depth and cover surrounding nest sites were related with F. passerinus productivity. Low vegetative cover and deeper water were associated with lower predation rates, suggesting that predation could be a primary factor driving habitat selection patterns. Parrotlets also demonstrated directional dispersal. Pairs that changed nest sites were more likely to disperse from poor-quality nest sites to high-quality nest sites rather than vice versa, and juveniles were more likely to disperse to, or remain in, the more productive of the two local populations. Parrotlets exhibited three characteristics fundamental to the IFD: habitat heterogeneity within and between local populations, reliable habitat cues to productivity, and active dispersal to sites of higher fitness.

The 50 million missing women.

PubMed

Allahbadia, Gautam N

2002-09-01

The epidemic of gender selection is ravaging countries like India & China. Approximately fifty million women are "missing" in the Indian population. Generally three principle causes are given: female infanticide, better food and health care for boys and maternal death at childbirth. Prenatal sex determination and the abortion of female fetuses threatens to skew the sex ratio to new highs. Estimates of the number of female fetuses being destroyed every year in India vary from two million to five million. This review from India attempts to summarize all the currently available methods of sex selection and also highlights the current medical practice regards the subject in south-east Asia.

[Surprising discovery: dismembered body found in a commercial laundry--medicolegal differentiation between infanticide, corpse dismemberment and stillbirth].

PubMed

Sautter, Julia; Schröder, Ann Sophie; Lockemann, Ute; Püschel, Klaus

2009-01-01

The discovery of a dismembered corpse, especially that of a newborn, represents a significant challenge for forensic investigators. The cause of the dismemberment, be it natural, accidental, or criminal, must be determined. Another important question to distinguish between neonaticide and stillbirth is whether the infant was alive after birth. The present case - a dismembered infant corpse discovered in the washing at a commercial laundry - describes a forensic investigation which could avoid premature or wrong conclusions by identifying the corpse as a stillbirth that was accidentally disposed of in the laundry after an autopsy had been performed.

The experience of pregnancy and childbirth for unmarried mothers in London, 1760-1866.

PubMed

Williams, Samantha

2011-01-01

This article explores the experience of pregnancy and childbirth for unmarried mothers in the metropolis in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It draws upon, in particular, the infanticide cases heard at the Old Bailey between 1760 and 1866. Many of the women in these records found themselves alone and afraid as they coped with the pregnancy and birth of their first child. A great deal is revealed about the birthing body: the ambiguity surrounding the identification of and signs of pregnancy, labour and delivery, the place of birth and the degree of privacy, and the nature of, and dangers associated with, solitary childbirth.

The evolution of social monogamy in mammals.

PubMed

Lukas, D; Clutton-Brock, T H

2013-08-02

The evolution of social monogamy has intrigued biologists for over a century. Here, we show that the ancestral condition for all mammalian groups is of solitary individuals and that social monogamy is derived almost exclusively from this social system. The evolution of social monogamy does not appear to have been associated with a high risk of male infanticide, and paternal care is a consequence rather than a cause of social monogamy. Social monogamy has evolved in nonhuman mammals where breeding females are intolerant of each other and female density is low, suggesting that it represents a mating strategy that has developed where males are unable to defend access to multiple females.

Gender Differences in Homicide of Neonates, Infants, and Children under 5 y in South Africa: Results from the Cross-Sectional 2009 National Child Homicide Study

PubMed Central

Abrahams, Naeemah; Mathews, Shanaaz; Martin, Lorna J.; Lombard, Carl; Nannan, Nadine; Jewkes, Rachel

2016-01-01

Background Homicide of children is a global problem. The under-5-y age group is the second largest homicide age group after 15–19 y olds, but has received little research attention. Understanding age and gender patterns is important for assisting with developing prevention interventions. Here we present an age and gender analysis of homicides among children under 5 y in South Africa from a national study that included a focus on neonaticide and infanticide. Methods and Findings A retrospective national cross-sectional study was conducted using a random sample of 38 medico-legal laboratories operating in 2009 to identify homicides of children under 5 y. Child data were abstracted from the mortuary files and autopsy reports, and both child and perpetrator data data were collected from police interviews. We erred towards applying a conservative definition of homicide and excluded sudden infant death syndrome cases. We estimated that 454 (95% CI 366, 541) children under the age of 5 y were killed in South Africa in 2009. More than half (53.2%; 95% CI 46.7%, 59.5%) were neonates (0–28 d), and 74.4% (95% CI 69.3%, 78.9%) were infants (under 1 y), giving a neonaticide rate of 19.6 per 100,000 live births and an infanticide rate of 28.4 per 100,000 live births. The majority of the neonates died in the early neonatal period (0–6 d), and abandonment accounted for 84.9% (95% CI 81.5%, 87.8%) of all the neonates killed. Distinct age and gender patterns were found, with significantly fewer boy children killed in rural settings compared to urban settings (odds ratio 0.6; 95% CI 0.4, 0.9; p = 0.015). Abuse-related killings and evidence of sexual assault were more common among older girls than in all other age and gender groups. Mothers were identified as the perpetrators in all of the neonaticides and were the most common perpetrators overall (71.0%; 95% CI 63.9%, 77.2%). Abandoned neonates were mainly term babies, with a mean gestational age of 38 wk. We did not have information on abandonment motives for all newborns and did not know if babies were abandoned with the intention that they would die or with the hope that they would be found alive. We therefore considered all abandoned babies as homicides. Conclusions Homicide of children is an extreme form or consequence of violence against children. This national study provides one of the first analyses of neonaticide and infanticide by age and gender and shows the failure of reproductive and mental health and social services to identify and help vulnerable mothers. Multi-sectoral prevention strategies are needed. PMID:27115771

[European representations of birth control and abortions in Islamic societies and harems in the modern period].

PubMed

Soares, Marina Juliana de Oliveira

2017-01-01

Throughout the modern period, Islamic women (whether they lived in palaces or normal houses) resorted to measures to prevent conception or to induce abortion when pregnancy occurred. They used herbs and abortifacient drugs or relied on help from other women to eliminate unwanted pregnancies. Such practices were recorded by Europeans - in some cases, doctors - who traveled to Islamic regions and described these scenes in their narratives. In addition to abortions, infanticide was also observed in the imperial palaces. Here we discuss how these sources described birth control, and how they investigated the lascivious harem, a recurring trope in orientalist literature, from a medical perspective.

Missing girls in India: infanticide, feticide and made-to-order pregnancies? Insights from hospital-based sex-ratio-at-birth over the last century.

PubMed

Sahni, Mohit; Verma, Neeraj; Narula, D; Varghese, Raji Mathew; Sreenivas, V; Puliyel, Jacob M

2008-05-21

There are 44 million missing women in India. Gender bias; neglect of girls, infanticides and feticides are responsible. The sex ratio at birth can be used to examine the influence of antenatal sex selection on the sex ratio. Records from 321,991 deliveries at one hospital over 11 decades were utilized. The middle year in each decade was taken as representative of the decade. Data from 33,524 deliveries were then analyzed. Data for each decade was combined with that of previous decades and compared to the data of subsequent decades to look for any change in the trend. Sex ratio in the second children against sex of the first child was studied separately. The mean sex ratio for the 110 years examined was 910 girls to 1000 boys (95% CI; 891 to 930). The sex ratio dropped significantly from 935 (CI: 905 to 967) before 1979, to 892 (CI: 868 to 918) after 1980 (P = 0.04). The sex ratio in the second child was significantly lower if the first child was a girl [716 (CI: 672 to 762] (P<0.001). On the other hand, there was an excess of girls born to mothers whose first child was boy [1140 girls per 1000 boys (CI: 1072 to 1212 P<0.001)]. The sex ratio fell significantly after 1980 when ultra sound machines for antenatal sex determination became available. The sex ratio in second children if the first was a girl was even lower. Sex selective abortions after antenatal sex determination are thus implicated. However data on second children especially the excess of girls born to mothers who have a previous boy seen in the decade before the advent of antenatal ultra sound machines, suggests that other means of sex selection are also used.

Missing Girls in India: Infanticide, Feticide and Made-to-Order Pregnancies? Insights from Hospital-Based Sex-Ratio-at-Birth over the Last Century

PubMed Central

Sahni, Mohit; Verma, Neeraj; Narula, D.; Varghese, Raji Mathew; Sreenivas, V.; Puliyel, Jacob M.

2008-01-01

Background There are 44 million missing women in India. Gender bias; neglect of girls, infanticides and feticides are responsible. The sex ratio at birth can be used to examine the influence of antenatal sex selection on the sex ratio. Materials and Methods Records from 321,991 deliveries at one hospital over 11 decades were utilized. The middle year in each decade was taken as representative of the decade. Data from 33,524 deliveries were then analyzed. Data for each decade was combined with that of previous decades and compared to the data of subsequent decades to look for any change in the trend. Sex ratio in the second children against sex of the first child was studied separately. Results The mean sex ratio for the 110 years examined was 910 girls to 1000 boys (95% CI; 891 to 930). The sex ratio dropped significantly from 935 (CI: 905 to 967) before 1979, to 892 (CI: 868 to 918) after 1980 (P = 0.04). The sex ratio in the second child was significantly lower if the first child was a girl [716 (CI: 672 to 762] (P<0.001). On the other hand, there was an excess of girls born to mothers whose first child was boy [1140 girls per 1000 boys (CI: 1072 to 1212 P<0.001)]. Conclusions The sex ratio fell significantly after 1980 when ultra sound machines for antenatal sex determination became available. The sex ratio in second children if the first was a girl was even lower. Sex selective abortions after antenatal sex determination are thus implicated. However data on second children especially the excess of girls born to mothers who have a previous boy seen in the decade before the advent of antenatal ultra sound machines, suggests that other means of sex selection are also used. PMID:18493614

China's family planning policy today.

PubMed

Meredith, W H

1993-01-01

This paper reviews China's family planning (FP) policy and its progress and problems in reaching state goals. Opening with a brief description of the one-child policy introduced in 1979, the paper moves backward in time to a consideration of the historical perspective and government policy. The current situation is then described in more detail. It is noted that China's population of 1.14 billion in 1990 would have been 1.3 billion without FP and that China contains 22% of the world's population with only 7% of its arable land. The state hopes to limit the growth rate to 12.5/1000 in the coming decade but a birth peak is predicted, birth control work has progressed very unevenly, marriage and pregnancy under age 18 is still common in rural areas, and life expectancy has risen. Urban compliance is very high, but the desire to have sons is still strong in rural areas. Problems with the birth rate among the migrating population are being addressed by the requirement that migrants produce "FP cards" before applying for residency permits. It is believed that female infanticide is still practiced in rural areas and that eliminating son preference would reduce the overall birth rate. While many couples rely on sterilization, the government is conducting research on new forms of the IUD (the most popular contraceptive) and vaccines and is encouraging the use of condoms. Most contraceptives are distributed free through an extensive network of FP associations. China has faced international criticism for the potential abuse to human rights implicit in its one-child policy, but China maintains that it opposes forced abortions, forbids infanticide, and that the FP policy reflects a more humane response to the reality of China's situation than would allowing couples to have large families. While China's methods would not work in a more pluralistic society which extols individualism, China's success or failure will in large measure determine the future of the world.

The association of intergroup encounters, dominance status, and fecal androgen and glucocorticoid profiles in wild male white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus)

PubMed Central

Schoof, Valérie A. M.; Jack, Katharine M.

2012-01-01

Androgens play a role in male reproductive competition, frequently via aggression, while glucocorticoids are associated with the stress response. However, the relationships of these hormones with different sources of competition (intra-versus intergroup) and dominance status are highly variable. Here we consider the fecal androgen (fA) and glucocorticoid (fGC) profiles of alpha and subordinate male Cebus capucinus in the context of intergroup competition during a rare period of low intragroup competition (i.e. all females were either pregnant or lactating). Intergroup encounters (IGEs) are a long-term reproductive strategy in male white-faced capuchins, enabling them to assess the composition of neighboring groups. IGEs pose a threat to resident males as these can result in injury or death, loss of dominance rank, group eviction, and group takeovers that are frequently associated with infanticide. From February to July 2007, fecal samples were collected from eight males in three groups of white-faced capuchins in the Santa Rosa Sector of the Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. IGE rate was positively associated with both fA and fGC levels, indicating that IGEs are perceived as reproductive challenges by resident males, and may be associated with elevated metabolic costs. Alpha males sire the majority of group offspring and, accordingly, the threat of IGEs to both future (via rank loss or eviction) and current (via infanticide) reproductive success is greater than for subordinate males. Consistent with this observation, alpha males had higher fA and fGC levels than subordinate males. Given that all females were either pregnant or lactating and pronounced overt intragroup competition was absent, we interpret the difference in hormone profiles of alpha and subordinate males as being primarily associated with variation in the perceived threats of IGEs to dominant versus subordinate males. Future studies should focus on the interaction of intra-and intergroup competition by examining hormone levels in the presence of periovulatory females. PMID:23090872

[Anonymous birth and neonaticide in Tyrol].

PubMed

Danner, C; Pacher, M; Ambach, E; Brezinka, C

2005-10-01

In 2001 the Austrian government provided the legal means that formally enabled "anonymous birth": a woman can now give birth in any hospital in Austria without giving her name or insurance number, the baby is taken into care by social services and placed with adoptive parents. The cost of the hospital stay is covered from public funds. These measures were put into effect after some highly publicized cases of infant abandonment and neonaticide in Austria. In the mostly rural and small-town province of Tyrol province in western Austria (687,000 inhabitants, 7000 births per year) four cases of neonaticide were discovered in the years from 1996 to 2004. One child was abandoned inside a hospital. Since 2001 two women have made use of the "anonymous birth" option. Neither had had any pregnancy controls, both showed up at or near term with contractions. They delivered healthy infants that were then taken into care by local adoption services. Both women were extensively counselled by psychologists, social workers, medical and midwifery staff and both insisted on their original decision to remain anonymous. A few weeks later one of the women found herself at the centre of a criminal investigation for infanticide after anonymous letters were sent to family members insinuating she had done away with the child. Police stopped that investigation when hospital staff confirmed that the woman had had an "anonymous" delivery. Despite the option of legal "anonymous" birth free of charge in modern hospitals there are still cases of infant abandonment and neonaticide in Austria. It is proposed that the women who opt for anonymous birth may not be the women who would otherwise kill their babies. Instead, it appears that the women opted for anonymity to escape the probably well-intentioned but overbearing attention of their families and of social services. It is doubtful that the option of anonymous birth will lead to a complete disappearance of infanticide and infant abandonment in Austria.

Changes in unit structures and infanticide observed in Arsi geladas.

PubMed

Mori, Akio; Belay, Gurja; Iwamoto, Toshitaka

2003-07-01

In 1989 a new gelada baboon ( Theropithecus gelada) population was found in Arsi, on the opposite side of the Rift Valley to that of the known gelada populations of Semien and Showa. Previous comparisons of units of the band at Gado Goro, Arsi, in the same season in consecutive years, indicated that unit structure is less stable among Arsi geladas as compared to the Semien population. Gelada units of the band at Gado-Goro were studied for 7 months in order to investigate the processes of social changes. Changes in unit structure were observed. Provisioning was carried out for 1.5 months at the beginning of the 7-month study period, in order to capture and obtain blood samples from the geladas. Following this, changes in male leadership of some units were observed, presumably as a consequence of the capture. However, natural changes also occurred. One change in unit structure occurred after a female gave birth, and changes in another unit occurred after the disappearance of the leader male. These changes involved female desertion of a unit, her subsequent transfer to a male unit, and culminated in the formation of a unit consisting of one female and one male. One successful and one attempted case of unification of units, and one case of change of a unit leader male are reported. These changes occurred among eight resident units in a period of 7 months (196 female months). Though the types of social changes were not much different from previous observations in Semien National Park, their frequencies seemed to be much higher. The characteristics of Arsi gelada social changes are proposed to be related to the small size of the units. We also describe a new confirmed case and one suspected case of infanticide, as well as one case of abortion at the time of male leader change.

Autopsy following death by homicide in 644 cases.

PubMed

Soumah, Mohamed Maniboliot; Munyali, Désiré Aluméti; Ndiaye, Mor; Sow, Mamadou Lamine

2012-02-01

The objectives of this study are to determine the cause of death and based on the wounds, to analyze the different epidemiological variables on homicide in Dakar. Included were all homicides cases where an autopsy was performed and these results recorded in the autopsy register. The data collected in our work included, identity, sex, age, place of crime (location), the cause of death (the causative agent and the anatomical region injured) and the mechanism of death (the pathophysiological phenomenon causing death). On average 56 cases of homicide a year are reported, ranging from 44 cases in 2005 to 80 cases in 1999. Extrapolated to the population of Dakar this corresponds to 1.9 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Victims aged over 55 years represented only 4.03% of all victims. 6.52% of cases were infanticide. The crimes mainly took place in the suburbs of Dakar (51.42% of cases). Hand held weapons were used in 578 cases (89.7%) followed by firearms in 44 cases (6.8%). The study of the age of the victims has some interesting points. The homicide of elderly people in Senegal was relatively low in contrast to what is found in a developed country. The youthfulness of our population also explains the large number of homicide victims between 21 and 25. Infanticide is a particular problem in Senegal. In our study, 50.6% of homicides were found in the suburbs of Dakar followed by the peripheral area which accounted for 29.3% of homicides. The incidence of homicide can be directly correlated with the level of economic development. This frequency is much higher where incomes are low and particularly affect young males. The study of this phenomenon should lead to better prevention. The victim-type in Dakar is a young man, aged 20-25 years, killed by an instrument with an injury to the skull, neck, heart or main arteries, causing bleeding and death. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Yes, the baby should live: a pro-choice response to Giubilini and Minerva.

PubMed

Manninen, Bertha Alvarez

2013-05-01

In their paper 'After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?' Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva argue that because there are no significant differences between a fetus and a neonate, in that neither possess sufficiently robust mental traits to qualify as persons, a neonate may be justifiably killed for any reason that also justifies abortion. To further emphasise their view that a newly born infant is more on a par with a fetus rather than a more developed baby, Giubilini and Minerva elect to call this 'after-birth abortion' rather than infanticide. In this paper, I argue that their thesis is incorrect, and that the moral permissibility of abortion does not entail the moral permissibility of 'after-birth' abortion.

Sex ratio adjustment by sex-specific maternal cannibalism in hamsters.

PubMed

Beery, Annaliese K; Zucker, Irving

2012-10-10

Mammalian offspring sex ratios can be biased via prenatal and postnatal mechanisms, including sperm selection, sex-specific embryo loss, and differential postnatal investment in males and females. Syrian hamsters routinely cannibalize some of their pups in the first days after birth. We present evidence that short day lengths, typically predictive of poor autumn and winter field conditions, are associated with male-biased sex ratios, achieved in part through selective perinatal maternal infanticide of female offspring. Higher peak litter sizes were associated with increased cannibalism rates, decreased final litter counts, and increased body mass of pups surviving to weaning. To our knowledge this is the first report of sex ratio adjustment by offspring cannibalism. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Relationship between abortion and child abuse.

PubMed

Ney, P

1979-11-01

Although permissive abortion has been advocated on the grounds it will reduce the prevalence of child abuse and infanticide, there is no evidence to prove it has. There is a growing concern that it may have contributed to the problem. This article outlines eight possible methods whereby an increasing rate of abortion will lead to an increasing rate of abuse. There is evidence that an abortion results in depression which hinders mother-infant bonding in a subsequent pregnancy. An abortion of the first pregnancy may interrupt the developing bonding mechanism and interfere with the ability to bond to the next infant. If the hypothesis is correct, medicine by endorsing abortion on request may be jeopardizing the safety and care of a large number of children.

In defence of academic freedom: bioethics journals under siege.

PubMed

Schüklenk, Udo

2013-05-01

This article analyses, from a bioethics journal editor's perspective, the threats to academic freedom and freedom of expression that academic bioethicists and academic bioethics journals are subjected to by political activists applying pressure from outside of the academy. I defend bioethicists' academic freedom to reach and defend conclusions many find offensive and 'wrong'. However, I also support the view that academics arguing controversial matters such as, for instance, the moral legitimacy of infanticide should take clear responsibility for the views they defend and should not try to hide behind analytical philosophers' rationales such as wanting to test an argument for the sake of testing an argument. This article proposes that bioethics journals establish higher-quality requirements and more stringent mechanisms of peer review than usual for iconoclastic articles.

Gender imbalance in infant mortality: a cross-national study of social structure and female infanticide.

PubMed

Fuse, Kana; Crenshaw, Edward M

2006-01-01

Sex differentials in infant mortality vary widely across nations. Because newborn girls are biologically advantaged in surviving to their first birthday, sex differentials in infant mortality typically arise from genetic factors that result in higher male infant mortality rates. Nonetheless, there are cases where mortality differentials arise from social or behavioral factors reflecting deliberate discrimination by adults in favor of boys over girls, resulting in atypical male to female infant mortality ratios. This cross-national study of 93 developed and developing countries uses such macro-social theories as modernization theory, gender perspectives, human ecology, and sociobiology/evolutionary psychology to predict gender differentials in infant mortality. We find strong evidence for modernization theory, human ecology, and the evolutionary psychology of group process, but mixed evidence for gender perspectives.

Two cases of mother-infant cannibalism in orangutans.

PubMed

Dellatore, David Fenwick; Waitt, Corri D; Foitova, Ivona

2009-07-01

Observations of ape cannibalism have to this point been limited to chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) where it is associated with infanticide and consumption by unrelated individuals (Watts and Mitani, Primates 41(4):357-365, 2000). Here we report for the first time observations of two unrelated female Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) cannibalizing the remains of their infants on different occasion, a behavior never before reported in any ape species. The two orangutans were wild-born rehabilitated individuals, and had been reintroduced to an area hosting a largely unregulated primate tourism industry and experienced restricted ranging conditions. Though it is possible that this is a strategy to regain energy and nutrients or a result of individual history, comparative data suggest that this is an aberrant behavior which may be linked to environmental stressors within the area.

Dead infants and unmarried women--from forensic pathology reports 1910-12.

PubMed

Alfsen, G Cecilie; Hernæs, Lotte

2013-12-10

The lack of access to contraceptives and poor control over their own pregnancies represented a major problem for women 100 years ago. An unwanted pregnancy could lead to social exclusion and loss of paid work, and clandestine births and infanticide thus posed a social problem. A review of the archives of the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine in the period 1910 to 1912 shows that one-fifth of all expert opinions were related to infants and pregnancy. Autopsies performed on children constituted over one-third of all forensic autopsies during this period. Although the reports provide a timely reminder of the value of hard-earned rights in Norway, the lack of control over their own sexuality and unwanted pregnancies are unfortunately still the reality for a large proportion of the world's women.

Where are the missing Chinese girls?

PubMed

Keysers, L

1991-01-01

Commentary focuses on the 1990 China Census data on births by sex and the sex ratio differences which suggest that 5% of all infant girls are unaccounted for. A combination of factors may account for this pattern: infanticide, adoption, or hidden births. Parents traditionally prefer sons and the 1 child policy acts as a disincentive to raise a girl child. The May 1990 census results indicate that for every 100 girls 1 year old there were 111.3 boys. This follows the pattern in 1989 of 112.5 boys and in 1987 of 110.5 boys. However in 1964 the sex ratio for newborn infants was 103.8 to 100, and in 1953 104.9 to 100. The figures surged after the institution of the 1 child policy in 1982. The natural sex ratio is 104-106 males for every 100 females. The ratio occurs for 1st born infants in China. The sex ratio is disportionately larger for 2nd or greater births. For 5th born children, the sex ratio is 125 boys to 100 girls. The presumption is that couples will accept a 1st daughter and a 2nd child can be maneuvered either legally or illegally. If a son is born first, most couples usually stop. A recent study by 2 Swedish experts and a Chinese demographer found that up to 50% of the 500,000 girls missing each year are adopted informally. The 2nd explanation offered is that daughters are raised by relatives in order to avoid having to pay fines. Infanticide as an option is considered possible and may account for a large number of killings in spite of the small proportion. Support for the explanation of hidden girls shows that the numbers are sometimes greater for 5 years olds than birth figures 5 years ago. Concern is raised about the use of ultrasound in determining the sex of the fetus. Since 1987, doctors are legally forbidden to inform patients of the sex of the fetus, but it is also recognized that the law is violated.

Gender differences in legal outcomes of filicide in Austria and Finland.

PubMed

Amon, S; Putkonen, H; Weizmann-Henelius, G; Fernandez Arias, P; Klier, C M

2018-06-01

Female offenders of filicide have been found to receive more lenient legal handling than male offenders. We aimed to discover these possible gender differences in the legal outcome of filicide cases. This was a binational register-based study covering all filicide offenders in Austria and Finland 1995-2005. We examined the legal outcomes of the crimes of all living offenders (64 mothers and 26 fathers). Mothers received a conviction of murder and life imprisonment less often than fathers. Within psychotic and personality-disordered offenders, infanticides, and offenders convicted for life, gender differences were less evident. Even though there seems to be some gender differences within the legal outcomes of filicide, ruling seemed more consistent than expected within distinct subgroups of offenders. Gender-based assumptions should not hinder equal and just handling of filicide cases.

[Murder. Italy-USA comparative profiles].

PubMed

Palermo, George B; Mastronardi, Vincenzo

2012-01-01

This paper, through illustrative cases of homicidal typologies, examines the generally accepted theories on the subject: 1) sociological ones by Lorenz to Sutherland and Cressey, by Berkowitz to Wolfgang and Ferracuti and others; 2) neurobiological ones, which include the involvement of the limbic, hippocampal and parietal lobes of the brain; 3) the psychological (psychodynamic) ones which are not disjoint from the types of individual criminal homicide and related aspects. In the discussion of the types of murders, family and extrafamilial murders are then taken into consideration, with the various meanings of revenge, challenge, other reasons linked to robbery, theft, settling scores leading to youth gangs and drive-by-shootings of marginalized adolescents, crimes related to drugs and to mental disorders. Infanticide and multiple murder, including mass murder and serial killer, conclude the work together with the statistics of murders and family murders in Italy compared to USA, specifically to the crime clock.

Should policy ethics come in two colours: green or white?

PubMed

Oswald, Malcolm

2013-05-01

When writing about policy, do you think in green or white? If not, I recommend that you do. I suggest that writers and journal editors should explicitly label every policy ethics paper either 'green' or 'white'. A green paper is an unconstrained exploration of a policy question. The controversial 'After-birth abortion' paper is an example. Had it been labelled as 'green', readers could have understood what Giubilini and Minerva explained later: that it was a discussion of philosophical ideas, and not a policy proposal advocating infanticide. A serious policy proposal should be labelled by writer(s) and editor(s) as 'white'. Its purpose should be to influence policy. In order to influence policy, I suggest three essential, and two desirable, characteristics of any white paper. Most importantly, a white paper should be set in the context in which the policy is to be made and applied.

Laws alone cannot bring change; education of women vital. Address by Shabana Azmi, M.P. (India).

PubMed

1999-01-01

This article presents the speech of Shabana Azmi on gender and population in South Asia. In her speech, she revealed the disadvantaged position held by women in India embedded in the Indian psyche: endless cases of female infanticide, dowry deaths and abysmal access to literacy and health care. She noted that it is this differential treatment that lays the foundation for not only rapidly increasing population, but also in making millions of women endure lives of weakness and subjugation. In addition, she emphasizes education that reinforces gender equality as the most important element leading to women empowerment. However, there is not enough attention being given to the quality of education. Although she acknowledges the importance of legislation, she said that laws alone cannot bring about change. What are needed, according to Azmi, are a change of mindset, a change of attitudes, and a commitment to gender equality.

‘Too many girls, too much dowry’: son preference and daughter aversion in rural Tamil Nadu, India

PubMed Central

DIAMOND-SMITH, NADIA; LUKE, NANCY; MCGARVEY, STEPHEN

2013-01-01

The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has experienced a dramatic decline in fertility, accompanied by a trend of increased son preference. This paper reports on findings from qualitative interviews with women in rural villages about their fertility decision-making. Specifically addressed are the reasons behind increasing son preference and the consequences of this change. Findings suggest that daughter aversion, fuelled primarily by the perceived economic burden of daughters due to the proliferation of dowry, is playing a larger role in fertility decision-making than son preference. The desire for a son is often trumped by the worry over having many daughters. Women use various means of controlling the sex of their children, which in this study appear to be primarily female infanticide. It is important to distinguish between son preference and daughter aversion and to examine repercussions of low fertility within this setting. PMID:18821352

Reaching Beijing to the grassroots.

PubMed

1996-01-01

India's Working Women's Forum (WWF) adopted a training strategy that allows participants to share their own experiences, identify the obstacles to their development, and devise strategies to overcome these obstacles. In order to improve the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW), the WWF established communication links throughout its vast membership to facilitate the quick transmission of issues and ideas during the FWCW preparatory process and the postconference implementation process. To solidify these links, the WWF holds participatory workshops to foster interaction, disseminate ideas, and develop traditional communication materials to increase awareness and change attitudes in grassroots communities. Issues of concern aired at a recent workshop include the commercialization of the fishing industry that has eroded the livelihood of fisher women, the government policy of direct exportation of yarn needed by the traditional hand-loom sector, the status of the girl child, and prevention of female infanticide.

Violence against women: global scope and magnitude.

PubMed

Watts, Charlotte; Zimmerman, Cathy

2002-04-06

An increasing amount of research is beginning to offer a global overview of the extent of violence against women. In this paper we discuss the magnitude of some of the most common and most severe forms of violence against women: intimate partner violence; sexual abuse by non-intimate partners; trafficking, forced prostitution, exploitation of labour, and debt bondage of women and girls; physical and sexual violence against prostitutes; sex selective abortion, female infanticide, and the deliberate neglect of girls; and rape in war. There are many potential perpetrators, including spouses and partners, parents, other family members, neighbours, and men in positions of power or influence. Most forms of violence are not unique incidents but are ongoing, and can even continue for decades. Because of the sensitivity of the subject, violence is almost universally under-reported. Nevertheless, the prevalence of such violence suggests that globally, millions of women are experiencing violence or living with its consequences.

Why do some animals mate with one partner rather than many? A review of causes and consequences of monogamy.

PubMed

Kvarnemo, Charlotta

2018-04-23

Why do some animals mate with one partner rather than many? Here, I investigate factors related to (i) spatial constraints (habitat limitation, mate availability), (ii) time constraints (breeding synchrony, length of breeding season), (iii) need for parental care, and (iv) genetic compatibility, to see what support can be found in different taxa regarding the importance of these factors in explaining the occurrence of monogamy, whether shown by one sex (monogyny or monandry) or by both sexes (mutual monogamy). Focusing on reproductive rather than social monogamy whenever possible, I review the empirical literature for birds, mammals and fishes, with occasional examples from other taxa. Each of these factors can explain mating patterns in some taxa, but not in all. In general, there is mixed support for how well the factors listed above predict monogamy. The factor that shows greatest support across taxa is habitat limitation. By contrast, while a need for parental care might explain monogamy in freshwater fishes and birds, there is clear evidence that this is not the case in marine fishes and mammals. Hence, reproductive monogamy does not appear to have a single overriding explanation, but is more taxon specific. Genetic compatibility is a promising avenue for future work likely to improve our understanding of monogamy and other mating patterns. I also discuss eight important consequences of reproductive monogamy: (i) parentage, (ii) parental care, (iii) eusociality and altruism, (iv) infanticide, (v) effective population size, (vi) mate choice before mating, (vii) sexual selection, and (viii) sexual conflict. Of these, eusociality and infanticide have been subject to debate, briefly summarised herein. A common expectation is that monogamy leads to little sexual conflict and no or little sexual selection. However, as reviewed here, sexual selection can be substantial under mutual monogamy, and both sexes can be subject to such selection. Under long-term mutual monogamy, mate quality is obviously more important than mate numbers, which in turn affects the need for pre-mating mate choice. Overall, I conclude that, despite much research on genetic mating patterns, reproductive monogamy is still surprisingly poorly understood and further experimental and comparative work is needed. This review identifies several areas in need of more data and also proposes new hypotheses to test. © 2018 The Authors. Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Neonaticides following "secret" pregnancies: seven case reports.

PubMed Central

Saunders, E

1989-01-01

Seven neonaticides were reported during a 14-month period in the State of Iowa. This is an alarming number considering that only one such case was reported in the previous year. The majority of cases involved the birth of a live infant to an adolescent who had reportedly kept her pregnancy secret from family and friends. The death of the infants resulted from exposure or drowning. Efforts were made by the mother to hide or dispose of her infant's body. Basic information about each of the reported cases is presented, as well as the sentences given the adult mothers charged with the crime of child endangerment. The dynamics of these cases are reviewed in the context of earlier studies dealing with the phenomenon of neonaticide. Infanticide has deep roots in several cultures. It was practiced in some primitive societies and was decreed a capital offense as early as 1643. Its occurrence recently prompts suggestions for activities by professionals to prevent these tragedies. More research and further attention to this problem is warranted. PMID:2502808

Neonaticides following "secret" pregnancies: seven case reports.

PubMed

Saunders, E

1989-01-01

Seven neonaticides were reported during a 14-month period in the State of Iowa. This is an alarming number considering that only one such case was reported in the previous year. The majority of cases involved the birth of a live infant to an adolescent who had reportedly kept her pregnancy secret from family and friends. The death of the infants resulted from exposure or drowning. Efforts were made by the mother to hide or dispose of her infant's body. Basic information about each of the reported cases is presented, as well as the sentences given the adult mothers charged with the crime of child endangerment. The dynamics of these cases are reviewed in the context of earlier studies dealing with the phenomenon of neonaticide. Infanticide has deep roots in several cultures. It was practiced in some primitive societies and was decreed a capital offense as early as 1643. Its occurrence recently prompts suggestions for activities by professionals to prevent these tragedies. More research and further attention to this problem is warranted.

Satanism, ritual abuse, and multiple personality disorder: a sociohistorical perspective.

PubMed

Mulhern, S

1994-10-01

During the past decade in North America, a growing number of mental health professionals have reported that between 25% and 50% of their patients in treatment for multiple personality disorder (MPD) have recovered early childhood traumatic memories of ritual torture, incestuous rape, sexual debauchery, sacrificial murder, infanticide, and cannibalism perpetrated by members of clandestine satanic cults. Although hundreds of local and federal police investigations have failed to corroborate patients' therapeutically constructed accounts, because the satanic etiology of MPD is logically coherent with the neodissociative, traumatic theory of psychopathology, conspiracy theory has emerged as the nucleus of a consistent pattern of contemporary clinical interpretation. Resolutely logical and thoroughly operational, ultrascientific psychodemonology remains paradoxically oblivious to its own irrational premises. When the hermetic logic of conspiracy theory is stripped away by historical and socio/psychological analysis, however, the hypothetical perpetrators of satanic ritual abuse simply disappear, leaving in their wake the very real human suffering of all those who have been caught up in the social delusion.

UN spearheads drive on violence against women.

PubMed

To commemorate International Women's Day, more than 1000 victims of violence against women, activists, and celebrities from five continents participated in a video conference. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan declared that violence against women may be the most shameful human rights violation, and the Executive Director of the UN Development Fund for Women called violence against women "the most unpunished crime." Women from around the world described the culturally-sanctioned abuse they suffer, including female genital mutilation, wife murders, and dowry murders. The conference learned that more than 60 million women are missing in Asia because they were subjected to infanticide or were bartered away by their families to a life of domestic servitude or prostitution. Violence against women can take many forms, including domestic abuse, rape as a war crime, traditional practices, dowry and honor killings, and trafficking. In addition, at least 20% of women worldwide have been physically or sexually assaulted. The morbidity and mortality women suffer from violence is equal to that which they suffer from cancer.

Primate Socioecology: New Insights from Males

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kappeler, Peter M.

Primate males have only recently returned to the center stage of socioecological research. This review surveys new studies that examine variation in the behavior of adult males and their role in social evolution. It is shown that group size, composition, and social behavior are determined not only by resource distribution, predation risk, and other ecological factors, but that life history traits and social factors, especially those related to sexual coercion, can have equally profound consequences for social systems. This general point is illustrated by examining male behavior at three levels: the evolution of permanent associations between males and females, the causes and consequences of variation in the number of males between group-living species, and the determinants of social relationships within and between the sexes. Direct and indirect evidence reviewed in connection with all three questions indicates that the risk of infanticide has been a pervasive force in primate social evolution. Several areas are identified for future research on male life histories that should contribute to a better understanding of male reproductive strategies and corresponding female counterstrategies.

Time to take a stand.

PubMed

Mulley, S

1996-03-15

The president of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics has issued a statement denouncing gender violence manifested by selective abortion of female fetuses, female genital mutilation, and domestic violence. The practice of sex selection has led to an artificial reduction in the number of females in the world on the order of 60-100 million. Son preference is fueled by customs such as the son carrying on the family name, providing old-age security for his parents, and bringing a dowry into the family upon marriage. In parts of India, women are killed (most commonly in kitchen fires) if their dowries are not paid or if subsequent demands for more money are not met. Survey results indicate that 78% of obstetricians would perform prenatal sex tests and that parents who opted for such testing included upper middle class professionals. The law banning sex selection in India is unlikely to be implemented until late 1996. Upon implementation, unwanted baby girls will be at risk of infanticide or death through neglect.

Relationship between the tensile strengths and diameters of human umbilical cords.

PubMed

Fernando, D M G; Gamage, S M K; Ranmohottige, S; Weerakkody, I; Abeyruwan, H; Parakrama, H

2018-05-01

Mothers of alleged infanticides might claim that umbilical cord broke during precipitate delivery causing injuries detected on baby at autopsy. There is paucity of evidence regarding this possibility. The objective of the study was to determine relationship between tensile strength and diameter or weight per unit length of cord. Diameters and weights per unit length of fresh umbilical cords were determined. Tensile strengths were measured by Hounsfield Testing Machine. Relationship between tensile strength versus cord diameter and weight per unit length were analyzed. Of 122 cords, average tensile strength, diameter and weight per centimeter were 50.4 N, 7.73 mm and 6.87 g respectively. The tensile strengths were directly proportional to diameter. There was no association between tensile strength and weight per centimeter. Measurement of the diameter of cord is important during autopsy to predict tensile strength and thereby to presume whether cord could have broken by the weight of the baby. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Cultic powers of Yoruba twins: manifestation of traditional and religious beliefs of the Yoruba.

PubMed

Oruene, T O

1983-01-01

The birth of twins was believed by the earlier Yoruba communities to be an omen. Drastic measures were adopted in the form of infanticide, or, sometimes, banishment of the twins with their mothers. The ritual killings were gradually replaced by acceptance and reverence of the twins, and thus evolved the kinship cult of twins in which the orisa ibeji, a tutelary deity of twins, became part of the Yoruba pantheon. Twins could be identified in the community by their fixed names of Taiwo and Kehinde. The community prescribes occupations to the mothers, which is learned through consultation with the oracle. The usual forms of occupation, which reflect the nature of the twins, are trading in oil, beans, or clothing, or requesting alms. The orisa ibeji and, by association, the twins were attributed powers of fertility, prosperity, avenger, detector of thieves, and rainmaker. Propitiation and supplication with offerings and sacrifices are an integral part of the cult of twins.

Population dynamics among Asmat hunter-gatherers of New Guinea: data, methods, comparisons.

PubMed

Van Arsdale, P W

1978-12-01

Since 1953 the Asmat hunter-gatherers of Irian Jaya have been experiencing rapid cultural change, yet demographically they still can be classified as "living primitives." Methods of nonstandard data analysis are used in an effort to provide specific information on age-sex structure, fertility, birthrates, death rates, population growth, internal migration, and life expectancy and to aid in the development of a 2-part model of population growth encompassing the immediate precontact and contact eras. The population data upon which the discussion is based were obtained in 1973 and 1974 as part of a broader field study that aimed at assessing the impact of externally induced culture change. Special attention is given to the continuing although reduced impact of infanticide. Brief comparisons with other Melanesian and 3rd world societies are presented; the Asmat average annual growth rate of 1.5% since 1st permanent contact in 1953 contrasts with the generally higher rates reported for most of these other groups.

Girl adoption in China-A less-known side of son preference.

PubMed

Chen, Yuyu; Ebenstein, Avraham; Edlund, Lena; Li, Hongbin

2015-01-01

In 1987, 4 per cent of girls were adopted within China. Why? Unlike infanticide, abandonment rids parents of daughters while preserving the supply of potential brides. In fact, an erstwhile tradition common in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces had parents of sons adopting an infant girl to serve as a future daughter-in-law and household help. Analysing a nationally representative 1992 survey of children, we found that: (1) girl adoptions were concentrated in the above-mentioned provinces; (2) girls were predominantly adopted by families with sons; (3) adopted girls faced substantial disadvantage as measured by school attendance at ages 8-13. In the 1990s, as the sex ratio at birth climbed, were girls aborted rather than abandoned? Observing that in the 2000 census too many girls appear in families with older sons, we estimated that at least 1/25 girls were abandoned in the 1990s, a proportion that in Fujian and Jiangxi may have peaked at 1/10 in 1994.

Social and Environmental Factors Affecting Fecal Glucocorticoids in Wild, Female White-Faced Capuchins (Cebus capucinus)

PubMed Central

CARNEGIE, SARAH D.; FEDIGAN, LINDA M.; ZIEGLER, TONI E.

2016-01-01

Assessing glucocorticoid levels in free-ranging nonhuman primates provides a means to determine the social and environmental stress load for individuals. We investigated the effect of four proximate variables—reproductive state, season, male rank stability, and dominance rank—on the level of fecal glucocorticoids (cortisol metabolites) in eight adult female white-faced capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica. Reproductive state, season, and male rank stability significantly affected fecal glucocorticoids while female dominance rank did not. Cortisol levels were significantly higher in pregnant females as compared with lactating or other reproductive states. Cortisol levels were higher among females during the dry season compared with the wet season, suggesting a metabolic adaptation to maintain homeostasis in drier, hotter conditions. Although unfamiliar males present a greater infanticidal threat than do familiar ones, we found that females experienced higher glucocorticoid levels during male rank instability events, regardless of whether the alpha male role was taken over by a familiar or an unfamiliar male. Our findings provide important benchmark and comparative data for future studies on the variables that affect glucocorticoid levels in this species and other mammals. PMID:21506140

Traditional agricultural practices and the sex ratio today

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

We study the historical origins of cross-country differences in the male-to-female sex ratio. Our analysis focuses on the use of the plough in traditional agriculture. In societies that did not use the plough, women tended to participate in agriculture as actively as men. By contrast, in societies that used the plough, men specialized in agricultural work, due to the physical strength needed to pull the plough or control the animal that pulls it. We hypothesize that this difference caused plough-using societies to value boys more than girls. Today, this belief is reflected in male-biased sex ratios, which arise due to sex-selective abortion or infanticide, or gender-differences in access to family resources, which results in higher mortality rates for girls. Testing this hypothesis, we show that descendants of societies that traditionally practiced plough agriculture today have higher average male-to-female sex ratios. We find that this effect systematically increases in magnitude and statistical significance as one looks at older cohorts. Estimates using instrumental variables confirm our findings from multivariate OLS analysis. PMID:29338023

Consensus Bundle on Maternal Mental Health: Perinatal Depression and Anxiety.

PubMed

Kendig, Susan; Keats, John P; Hoffman, M Camille; Kay, Lisa B; Miller, Emily S; Moore Simas, Tiffany A; Frieder, Ariela; Hackley, Barbara; Indman, Pec; Raines, Christena; Semenuk, Kisha; Wisner, Katherine L; Lemieux, Lauren A

2017-03-01

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions encountered by women of reproductive age. When left untreated, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders can have profound adverse effects on women and their children, ranging from increased risk of poor adherence to medical care, exacerbation of medical conditions, loss of interpersonal and financial resources, smoking and substance use, suicide, and infanticide. Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are associated with increased risks of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity and are recognized as a significant patient safety issue. In 2015, the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care convened an interdisciplinary workgroup to develop an evidence-based patient safety bundle to address maternal mental health. The focus of this bundle is perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. The bundle is modeled after other bundles released by the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care and provides broad direction for incorporating perinatal mood and anxiety disorder screening, intervention, referral, and follow-up into maternity care practice across health care settings. This commentary provides information to assist with bundle implementation.

Corkscrew Seals: Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) Infanticide and Cannibalism May Indicate the Cause of Spiral Lacerations in Seals

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Large numbers of dead seals with characteristic spiral lesions have been washing ashore around the North Atlantic over the past two decades. Interactions with ship propellers and shark predation have been suggested as the likely causal mechanisms. However, new evidence points towards a more likely candidate: grey seal predation. An adult male grey seal was observed and recorded catching, killing and eating five weaned grey seal pups over a period of one week on the Isle of May, Scotland. A further 9 carcasses found in the same area exhibited similar injuries. Post mortem analysis of lesions indicated the wound characteristics were similar to each other and in 12 of the 14 carcasses analysed, were indistinguishable from carcasses previously attributed to propeller interaction. We therefore propose that most of the seal carcasses displaying spiral lacerations in the UK are caused by grey seal predation. Cases in other locations should be re-evaluated using the scoring system presented here to identify whether grey seal predation is a major cause of mortality in phocid seals. PMID:27254025

[Sudden death of twins: botulism because of contamination by pap vegetables].

PubMed

Fischer, D; Freislederer, A; Jorch, G

2004-01-01

Botulism is caused by the blockage of the neural transmission in the cholinergic synapses by botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) which is produced by Clostridium botulinum or other Clostridia. The classic form of botulism occurs after the ingestion of food contaminated by BoNT. The course of the infection can be asymptomatic, mild with subtle paralysis ("failure to thrive") oder severe with generalized paralysis ("floppy infant"). Infected infants can also die sudden and unexpectedly. These deaths often are attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), unless a thorough postmortem examination reveals Botulism. The rate of fatal Botulism falsely attributed to SIDS is not known, because it is difficult in most cases to show the causal relationship between contamination, disease and death. We report the sudden and unexpected simultaneous death of twins of 22 months which could be attributed to Botulism. Contamination of food, colonization of the gut by Clostridia and infection with specific pathomorphological changes could be proven. The initial suspicion of infanticide could be excluded. lt could be shown, that Botulism is a potential cause of simultaneous unexpected deaths in twins.

Corkscrew Seals: Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) Infanticide and Cannibalism May Indicate the Cause of Spiral Lacerations in Seals.

PubMed

Brownlow, Andrew; Onoufriou, Joseph; Bishop, Amanda; Davison, Nicholas; Thompson, Dave

2016-01-01

Large numbers of dead seals with characteristic spiral lesions have been washing ashore around the North Atlantic over the past two decades. Interactions with ship propellers and shark predation have been suggested as the likely causal mechanisms. However, new evidence points towards a more likely candidate: grey seal predation. An adult male grey seal was observed and recorded catching, killing and eating five weaned grey seal pups over a period of one week on the Isle of May, Scotland. A further 9 carcasses found in the same area exhibited similar injuries. Post mortem analysis of lesions indicated the wound characteristics were similar to each other and in 12 of the 14 carcasses analysed, were indistinguishable from carcasses previously attributed to propeller interaction. We therefore propose that most of the seal carcasses displaying spiral lacerations in the UK are caused by grey seal predation. Cases in other locations should be re-evaluated using the scoring system presented here to identify whether grey seal predation is a major cause of mortality in phocid seals.

Female transference and mate choice among Tana River red colobus.

PubMed

Marsh, C W

1979-10-18

Red colobus are one of a small number of primate species in which females have been reported to transfer between breeding groups more commonly than males. Several authors have hypothesised that in such species transference may serve to reduce the risk to females of producing offspring of lower fitness through inbreeding. The hypothesis offers no explanation of why females rather than males are responsible for outbreeding in these species, but remains plausible so long as male membership of breeding groups is relatively stable; for once members of one sex have evolved dispersal mechanisms reducing the risk of inbreeding, pressures on the other sex to do likewise will be lowered. Hence, if both sexes commonly migrate, the hypothesis is weakened. I describe here the membership dynamics of a group of Tana River red colobus, Colobus badius rufomitratus, which provide the first evidence of high rates of membership turnover by both sexes in primates, and speculate that the function of female transference in this case may be related to mate choice and the avoidance of infanticide.

Who killed Laius?: On Sophocles' enigmatic message.

PubMed

Priel, Beatriz

2002-04-01

Using Laplanche's basic conceptualisation of the role of the other in unconscious processes, the author proposes a reading of Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King, according to basic principles of dream interpretation. This reading corroborates contemporary literary perspectives suggesting that Sophocles' tragedy may not only convey the myth but also provide a critical analysis of how myths work. Important textual inconsistencies and incoherence, which have been noted through the centuries, suggest the existence of another, repressed story. Moreover, the action of the play points to enigmatic parental messages of infanticide and the silencing of Oedipus's story, as well as their translation into primordial guilt, as the origins of the tragic denouement. Oedipus's self-condemnation of parricide follows these enigmatic codes and is unrelated to, and may even contradict, the evidence offered in the tragedy as to the identity of Laius's murderers. Moreover, Sophocles' text provides a complex intertwining of hermeneutic and deterministic perspectives. Through the use of the mythical deterministic content, the formal characteristics of Sophocles' text, mainly its complex time perspective and extensive use of double meaning, dramatise in the act of reading an acute awareness of interpretation. This reading underscores the fundamental role of the other in the constitution of unconscious processes.

Homicide and mental illness in New Zealand, 1970-2000.

PubMed

Simpson, Alexander I F; McKenna, Brian; Moskowitz, Andrew; Skipworth, Jeremy; Barry-Walsh, Justin

2004-11-01

Homicides by mentally ill persons have led to political concerns about deinstitutionalisation. To provide accurate information about the contribution of mental illness to homicide rates. Retrospective study of homicide in New Zealand from 1970 to 2000, using data from government sources. 'Mentally abnormal homicide'perpetrators were defined as those found unfitto stand trial, not guilty by reason of insanity, convicted and sentenced to psychiatric committal, or convicted of infanticide. Group and time trends were analysed. Mentally abnormal homicides constituted 8.7% of the 1498 homicides. The annual rate of such homicides was 1.3 per million population, static over the period. Total homicides increased by over 6% per year from 1970 to 1990, then declined from 1990 to 2000. The percentage of all homicides committed by the mentally abnormal group fell from 19.5% in 1970 to 5.0% in 2000. Ten percent of perpetrators had been admitted to hospital during the month before the offence; 28.6% had had no prior contact with mental health services. Victims were most commonly known to the perpetrator (74%). Deinstitutionalisation appears not to be associated with an increased risk of homicide by people who are mentally ill.

Gender Norms in Portuguese College Students' Judgments in Familial Homicides: Bad Men and Mad Women.

PubMed

Saavedra, Luísa; Cameira, Miguel; Rebelo, Ana Sofia; Sebastião, Cátia

2015-05-08

The gender of the offender has been proved to be an important factor in judicial sentencing. In this study, we analyze the judgments of College students regarding perpetrators of familial homicides to evaluate the presence of these gender norms and biases in the larger society. The sample included 303 college students (54.8% female) enrolled in several social sciences and engineering courses. Participants were asked to read 12 vignettes based on real crimes taken from Portuguese newspapers. Half were related to infanticide, and half were related to intimate partner homicide. The sex of the offender was orthogonally manipulated to the type of crime. The results show that gender had an important impact on sentences, with males being more harshly penalized by reasons of perversity and women less penalized by reason of mental disorders. In addition, filicide was more heavily penalized than was intimate partner homicide. The results also revealed a tendency toward a retributive conception of punishment. We discuss how gender norms in justice seem to be embedded in society as well as the need for intervention against the punitive tendency of this population. © The Author(s) 2015.

Social and environmental factors affecting fecal glucocorticoids in wild, female white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus).

PubMed

Carnegie, Sarah D; Fedigan, Linda M; Ziegler, Toni E

2011-09-01

Assessing glucocorticoid levels in free-ranging nonhuman primates provides a means to determine the social and environmental stress load for individuals. We investigated the effect of four proximate variables--reproductive state, season, male rank stability, and dominance rank--on the level of fecal glucocorticoids (cortisol metabolites) in eight adult female white-faced capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica. Reproductive state, season, and male rank stability significantly affected fecal glucocorticoids while female dominance rank did not. Cortisol levels were significantly higher in pregnant females as compared with lactating or other reproductive states. Cortisol levels were higher among females during the dry season compared with the wet season, suggesting a metabolic adaptation to maintain homeostasis in drier, hotter conditions. Although unfamiliar males present a greater infanticidal threat than do familiar ones, we found that females experienced higher glucocorticoid levels during male rank instability events, regardless of whether the alpha male role was taken over by a familiar or an unfamiliar male. Our findings provide important benchmark and comparative data for future studies on the variables that affect glucocorticoid levels in this species and other mammals. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Consensus Bundle on Maternal Mental Health: Perinatal Depression and Anxiety.

PubMed

Kendig, Susan; Keats, John P; Hoffman, M Camille; Kay, Lisa B; Miller, Emily S; Simas, Tiffany A Moore; Frieder, Ariela; Hackley, Barbara; Indman, Pec; Raines, Christena; Semenuk, Kisha; Wisner, Katherine L; Lemieux, Lauren A

2017-03-01

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions encountered by women of reproductive age. When left untreated, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders can have profound adverse effects on women and their children, ranging from increased risk of poor adherence to medical care, exacerbation of medical conditions, loss of interpersonal and financial resources, smoking and substance use, suicide, and infanticide. Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are associated with increased risks of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity and are recognized as a significant patient safety issue. In 2015, the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care convened an interdisciplinary work group to develop an evidence-based patient safety bundle to address maternal mental health. The focus of this bundle is perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. The bundle is modeled after other bundles released by the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care and provides broad direction for incorporating perinatal mood and anxiety disorder screening, intervention, referral, and follow-up into maternity care practice across health care settings. This commentary provides information to assist with bundle implementation. © 2017 by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Consensus Bundle on Maternal Mental Health: Perinatal Depression and Anxiety.

PubMed

Kendig, Susan; Keats, John P; Hoffman, M Camille; Kay, Lisa B; Miller, Emily S; Moore Simas, Tiffany A; Frieder, Ariela; Hackley, Barbara; Indman, Pec; Raines, Christena; Semenuk, Kisha; Wisner, Katherine L; Lemieux, Lauren A

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions encountered by women of reproductive age. When left untreated, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders can have profound adverse effects on women and their children, ranging from increased risk of poor adherence to medical care, exacerbation of medical conditions, loss of interpersonal and financial resources, smoking and substance use, suicide, and infanticide. Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are associated with increased risks of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity and are recognized as a significant patient safety issue. In 2015, the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care convened an interdisciplinary workgroup to develop an evidence-based patient safety bundle to address maternal mental health. The focus of this bundle is perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. The bundle is modeled after other bundles released by the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care and provides broad direction for incorporating perinatal mood and anxiety disorder screening, intervention, referral, and follow-up into maternity care practice across health care settings. This commentary provides information to assist with bundle implementation. Copyright © 2017 AWHONN, the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Male and female breeding strategies in a cooperative primate.

PubMed

Yamamoto, Maria Emilia; Araujo, Arrilton; Arruda, Maria de Fatima; Lima, Ana Karinne Moreira; Siqueira, Jose de Oliveira; Hattori, Wallisen Tadashi

2014-11-01

Marmosets are cooperative breeders organized as extended family groups, but breeding is generally restricted to a single pair. Breeding competition is fierce in female marmosets; males, on the other hand, show low levels of intragroup aggression. We investigated male and female breeding strategies and the resulting reproductive output in 9 wild groups. Reproductive output, tenure of breeding animals, identification of the breeding system, breeding position replacements, migration and infanticide were recorded; also, we recorded grooming and aggression. Replacement of the breeding male or female was observed on nine occasions. On four occasions, the son of the breeding male inherited the breeding post, but we never observed inheritance of a breeding post by a daughter. Mostly, females attained a breeding post by immigrating to a group that had a breeding vacancy. Our results showed that Callithrix jacchus males and females use different strategies to attain a breeding position and maintain it for as long as possible. These strategies prolong the tenure of the breeding position, which is the best way to produce a large number of offspring. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Neotropical Behaviour. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[The illegal market for gender-related drugs as portrayed in the Brazilian news media: the case of misoprostol and women].

PubMed

Diniz, Debora; Castro, Rosana

2011-01-01

This article analyzes how the Brazilian news media covers the illegal market for misoprostol, the main drug used to induce abortion. A total of 1,429 news stories were retrieved from 220 print and electronic media channels from 2004 to 2009. The analysis included 524 stories from 62 regional and national newspapers. Misoprostol appeared repeatedly in the news, but was usually approached from a criminal perspective, unlike abortion as a whole, which the Brazilian media routinely covers as a religious, political, and public health issue. Misoprostol is part of the illegal gender-related drug market, along with drugs for weight loss and erectile dysfunction and anabolic steroids. Sixty-four (12%) of the news stories told life histories of women who had aborted with misoprostol. The women's ages ranged from 13 to 46 years, and socioeconomic status was associated with different experiences with abortion. Three characters appeared in the women's abortion itineraries: girlfriends (confidantes), go-betweens, and physicians. Stories of late-stage abortion are confused with the criminal characterization of infanticide and provide the extreme cases in the media's narrative on abortion.

‘One of the Best Fathers until He Went Out of His Mind’: Paternal Child-Murder, 1864–1900

PubMed Central

Shepherd, Jade

2013-01-01

Current scholarship suggests that when a mother murdered her child in Victorian England she was treated sympathetically by the press and in the courtroom. It is argued that because the crime was considered antithetical to womanhood it was viewed as an indication of insanity. This article examines newspaper reports, trial transcripts, medical literature and popular works on fatherhood, in order to explore the cases of sixty men committed to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum between 1864 and 1900 for the murder of their children. It questions two assumptions of the literature on infanticide: first, the idea that it was only women who were thought to be going against nature if they killed their child; and second, that it was only women who regularly successfully pleaded insanity in such cases. The Broadmoor case studies not only demonstrate Victorian attitudes towards paternal child-murder but also provide valuable material illustrating affectionate models of Victorian fatherhood. In trial and press reports detailing the crimes it is clear that fathers were expected, and expected themselves, to be temperate, provide for, and protect their children. PMID:24764747

Survey of medico-legal investigation of homicide in the region of Epirus (Northwest Greece).

PubMed

Fragkouli, Kleio; Boumba, Vassiliki; Vougiouklakis, Theodore

2016-01-01

This study analyzed the forensic features of homicides in North-West Greece (Epirus) from 1998 to 2013, a borderland area between Greece and Albania. Although Greece is critically influenced by both the increasing flow of refugees and the current socioeconomic crisis, very little information has been published regarding the patterns of homicide in the country. Fifty-eight autopsied victims (36 males; 22 females) were investigated. The median age was 37 years old. The average annual homicide rate was 0.85 per 100,000 inhabitants and showed remarkable fluctuation, with largest increase during Greek financial downturn. Sixteen victims were not Greek citizens. The most common method of commitment was the use of firearm (40%). The main motives were economical causes (26%) and passion (14%). Four cases were categorized as matricide (7%), 3 as homicide-suicide (5%), 2 as patricide (3%) and 1 as infanticide (2%). Toxicological analysis proved negative for ethanol and other psychotropic substances in the majority of the victims (50%). There is an urgent need for public actions both in Epirus and in Greece, with the application of effective strategies against criminality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Morphological Identification of Hair Recovered from Feces for Detection of Cannibalism in Eastern Chimpanzees.

PubMed

Walker, Christopher S; Walker, Kara K; Paulo, Gabo; Pusey, Anne E

2018-01-01

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are primarily frugivorous but consume a variable amount of meat from a variety of organisms, including other chimpanzees. Cannibalism is rare, usually follows lethal aggression, and does not occur following natural deaths. While chimpanzee cannibalism has been documented at multiple sites, many instances of this behavior go unrecorded. Identification of chimpanzee remains in feces, however, can provide indirect evidence of cannibalism. Hair, in particular, typically passes through the gastrointestinal tract undamaged and is commonly used for purposes of identification in wildlife forensics. Here we test the hypothesis that eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) guard hair morphology can be reliably distinguished from the hairs of their most common prey species. Methods and results are presented in the context of a case study involving a suspected chimpanzee infanticide from Gombe, Tanzania. We find that chimpanzee guard hair morphology is unique among tested mammals and that the presence of abundant chimpanzee hair in feces is likely the result of cannibalism and not incidental ingestion from grooming or other means. Accordingly, morphological analysis of guard hairs from feces is a promising, cost-effective tool for the determination of cannibalistic acts in chimpanzees. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A Hepatozoon species genetically distinct from H. canis infecting spotted hyenas in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania.

PubMed

East, Marion L; Wibbelt, Gudrun; Lieckfeldt, Dietmar; Ludwig, Arne; Goller, Katja; Wilhelm, Kerstin; Schares, Gereon; Thierer, Dagmar; Hofer, Heribert

2008-01-01

Health monitoring of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania, revealed Hepatozoon infection in all of 11 immature individuals examined following death from natural causes. Hepatozoon infection was probably an important factor contributing to mortality in two cases that exhibited clinical signs of ataxia, lethargy, ocular discharge, retching, and labored breathing before death. Whether Hepatozoon infection contributed to six deaths from fire, probable lion predation and unknown causes could not be determined. Four deaths from infanticide and starvation were unlikely to be associated with Hepatozoon infection. Histologic examination revealed lung tissue infected with cyst-like structures containing protozoan stages in all eight cases examined and interstitial pneumonia in most cases. Systemic spread of infection to several organs was found in three cases. Alignment of a 426 bp sequence from the parasite's 18s rRNA gene revealed a Hepatozoon species identical to that recently described from two domestic cats in Spain and only 7 bp substitutions when a 853 bp sequence was aligned to this cat Hepatozoon species. Previous reports of infection of wild carnivores in eastern and southern Africa with an unspecified Hepatozoon species similar in appearance to H. canis may have involved the species described in this study.

Observations of mixed-aged litters in brown bears

USGS Publications Warehouse

Swenson, J.E.; Haroldson, M.A.

2008-01-01

We report on 3 cases of mixed-aged litters (young born in different years) in brown bears (Ursus arctos); in 1 instance the cub-of-the-year (hereafter called cubs) died in the den. Two cases occurred in Sweden after mothers were separated from their young during the breeding season. In one, the mother was separated from the accompanying cub for at least 12.5 hours and possibly up to 3.3 days, and later possibly separated for 4 days. In the other, the mother was separated from her yearling at least 3 times for 1-14, 1-6 and 1-6 days. She was with a male during the first separation. Specific events that produced the mixed-aged litter observed in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem were unknown and our interpretation is based on estimates of ages of accompanying young from photographs. The observation of only 2 mixed-aged litters, after den emergence, from a sample of 406 observed cub litters accompanying radiomarked females confirms the rarity of this phenomenon. The mechanism apparently includes a short separation of mother and young, and, in the case of cubs, the mother must mate while lactating. Better understanding of the physiological mechanisms that allow mixed-age litters would help us in the debate about the occurrence of sexually selected infanticide in bears.

Decline and recovery of a large carnivore: environmental change and long-term trends in an endangered brown bear population

PubMed Central

Naves, Javier; Fernández-Gil, Alberto

2016-01-01

Understanding what factors drive fluctuations in the abundance of endangered species is a difficult ecological problem but a major requirement to attain effective management and conservation success. The ecological traits of large mammals make this task even more complicated, calling for integrative approaches. We develop a framework combining individual-based modelling and statistical inference to assess alternative hypotheses on brown bear dynamics in the Cantabrian range (Iberian Peninsula). Models including the effect of environmental factors on mortality rates were able to reproduce three decades of variation in the number of females with cubs of the year (Fcoy), including the decline that put the population close to extinction in the mid-nineties, and the following increase in brown bear numbers. This external effect prevailed over density-dependent mechanisms (sexually selected infanticide and female reproductive suppression), with a major impact of climate driven changes in resource availability and a secondary role of changes in human pressure. Predicted changes in population structure revealed a nonlinear relationship between total abundance and the number of Fcoy, highlighting the risk of simple projections based on indirect abundance indices. This study demonstrates the advantages of integrative, mechanistic approaches and provides a widely applicable framework to improve our understanding of wildlife dynamics. PMID:27903871

Decline and recovery of a large carnivore: environmental change and long-term trends in an endangered brown bear population.

PubMed

Martínez Cano, Isabel; Taboada, Fernando González; Naves, Javier; Fernández-Gil, Alberto; Wiegand, Thorsten

2016-11-30

Understanding what factors drive fluctuations in the abundance of endangered species is a difficult ecological problem but a major requirement to attain effective management and conservation success. The ecological traits of large mammals make this task even more complicated, calling for integrative approaches. We develop a framework combining individual-based modelling and statistical inference to assess alternative hypotheses on brown bear dynamics in the Cantabrian range (Iberian Peninsula). Models including the effect of environmental factors on mortality rates were able to reproduce three decades of variation in the number of females with cubs of the year (Fcoy), including the decline that put the population close to extinction in the mid-nineties, and the following increase in brown bear numbers. This external effect prevailed over density-dependent mechanisms (sexually selected infanticide and female reproductive suppression), with a major impact of climate driven changes in resource availability and a secondary role of changes in human pressure. Predicted changes in population structure revealed a nonlinear relationship between total abundance and the number of Fcoy, highlighting the risk of simple projections based on indirect abundance indices. This study demonstrates the advantages of integrative, mechanistic approaches and provides a widely applicable framework to improve our understanding of wildlife dynamics. © 2016 The Author(s).

A Study on factors influencing the Nutritional Status of Lactating Women in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh Regions.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, Yasmeen Majid; Khan, Asmat

2012-09-01

The health of women is linked to their status in the society. The demographic consequence of the women has formed expression in various forms, such as female infanticide, higher death rate, lower sex ratio, low literacy level and lower level of employment of women in the nonagricultural sector as compared to men. Generally, at household level, cultural norms and practices and socio-economic factors determine the extent of nutritional status among women. For the purpose of present investigation, the data collected during 2005-06 on diet and nutritional status of tribal rural and urban lactating women respectively in States of Jammu and Kashmir was utilized. The study revealed inadequate dietary intake, especially micronutrient deficiency (hidden hunger) during lactation. Tribal women were particularly vulnerable to under nutrition compared to women in rural and urban areas. (16.9%) women had chronic energy deficiency, (56.4%) of women from all the three regions were observed to have clinical signs of nutritional deficiency, (30% )of women had taken deficient calories Clinical signs of deficiency of nutrition were uniformly distributed among three regions (p> 0.01), whereas indicators like BMI and caloric intake showed significant difference (P< 0.01) between the three regions . 49% studied women were found to be anemic.

Sex selection: the systematic elimination of girls.

PubMed

Oomman, Nandini; Ganatra, Bela R

2002-05-01

In strongly patriarchal societies, where the cultural and economic value of sons is at a premium, son preference manifests itself in many ways, ranging from differential allocation of household resources, medical care and neglect of girl children to female infanticide. With the increasing availability of ultrasound in the mid-1980s sex determination followed by sex-selective abortion began to become widespread as well. The following paper introduces this Roundtable and discusses the following questions: Is sex selection a part of women's right to free choice and control over their reproduction? What is the role of the medical profession? Are all manifestations of sex selection equally unethical? Are there solutions? Do the solutions themselves pose new ethical dilemmas? Following this paper, four respondents put different points of view on sex selection as a gender-based preference for a pregnancy; progress in getting the Supreme Court of India to implement a 1994 law regulating the use of antenatal diagnostic technology; why sex selection should be available as a form of reproductive choice; and why sex selection may be empowering for women and justify their actions in the short run, given the demands on them. All agree that only improved status for women and girls will reduce the demand for sex selection.

Cases of maternal cannibalism in wild bonobos (Pan paniscus) from two different field sites, Wamba and Kokolopori, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

PubMed

Tokuyama, Nahoko; Moore, Deborah Lynn; Graham, Kirsty Emma; Lokasola, Albert; Furuichi, Takeshi

2017-01-01

Maternal cannibalism, whereby a mother consumes her own offspring, occurs in various animal taxa and is commonly explained by nutritional stress or environmental pressures. It is rare in nonhuman primates and is considered an aberrant behavior only observed under high-stress conditions. It was therefore surprising when, in the first reported case of cannibalism in wild bonobos, a mother consumed part of the dead infant at LuiKotale. Here we report two more cases of maternal cannibalism by wild bonobos at two different study sites, Wamba and Kokolopori. The dead infants' mothers participated in the cannibalism in both cases. At Kokolopori, although the mother did consume part of the carcass, it was held and shared by another dominant female. At Wamba, the mother was a dominant female within the community and was the primary consumer of the carcass. In both cases, cannibalism resembled other meat-eating events, with the dominant female controlling meat consumption. Infanticide was not observed in either case, but its occurrence could not be ruled out. Although rare, the occurrence of maternal cannibalism at three different study sites suggests that this may represent part of the behavioral repertoire of bonobos, rather than an aberrant behavior.

Evolutionary history of partible paternity in lowland South America

PubMed Central

Walker, Robert S.; Flinn, Mark V.; Hill, Kim R.

2010-01-01

Partible paternity, the conception belief that more than one man can contribute to the formation of a fetus, is common in lowland South America and characterized by nonexclusive mating relationships and various institutionalized forms of recognition and investment by multiple cofathers. Previous work has emphasized the fitness benefits for women where partible paternity beliefs facilitate paternal investment from multiple men and may reduce the risk of infanticide. In this comparative study of 128 lowland South American societies, the prevalence of partible paternity beliefs may be as much as two times as common as biologically correct beliefs in singular paternity. Partible paternity beliefs are nearly ubiquitous in four large language families—Carib, Pano, Tupi, and Macro-Je. Phylogenetic reconstruction suggests that partible paternity evolved deep in Amazonian prehistory at the root of a tentative Je-Carib-Tupi clade. Partible paternity often occurs with uxorilocal postmarital residence (males transfer), although there are exceptions. Partible paternity may have benefits for both sexes, especially in societies where essentially all offspring are said to have multiple fathers. Despite a decrease in paternity certainty, at least some men probably benefit (or mitigate costs) by increasing their number of extramarital partners, using sexual access to their wives to formalize male alliances, and/or sharing paternity with close kin. PMID:20974947

Variable postpartum responsiveness among humans and other primates with "cooperative breeding": A comparative and evolutionary perspective.

PubMed

Hrdy, Sarah B

2016-01-01

This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care".Until recently, evolutionists reconstructing mother-infant bonding among human ancestors relied on nonhuman primate models characterized by exclusively maternal care, overlooking the highly variable responsiveness exhibited by mothers in species with obligate reliance on allomaternal care and provisioning. It is now increasingly recognized that apes as large-brained, slow maturing, and nutritionally dependent for so long as early humans were, could not have evolved unless "alloparents" (group members other than genetic parents), in addition to parents, had helped mothers to care for and provision offspring, a rearing system known as "cooperative breeding." Here I review situation-dependent maternal responses ranging from highly possessive to permissive, temporarily distancing, rejecting, or infanticidal, documented for a small subset of cooperatively breeding primates. As in many mammals, primate maternal responsiveness is influenced by physical condition, endocrinological priming, prior experience and local environments (especially related to security). But mothers among primates who evolved as cooperative breeders also appear unusually sensitive to cues of social support. In addition to more "sapient" or rational decision-making, humankind's deep history of cooperative breeding must be considered when trying to understand the extremely variable responsiveness of human mothers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Observations of severe and lethal coalitionary attacks in wild mountain gorillas

PubMed Central

Rosenbaum, Stacy; Vecellio, Veronica; Stoinski, Tara

2016-01-01

In humans and chimpanzees, most intraspecific killing occurs during coalitionary intergroup conflict. In the closely related genus Gorilla, such behavior has not been described. We report three cases of multi-male, multi-female wild mountain gorilla (G. beringei) groups attacking extra-group males. The behavior was strikingly similar to reports in chimpanzees, but was never observed in gorillas until after a demographic transition left ~25% of the population living in large social groups with multiple (3+) males. Resource competition is generally considered a motivator of great apes’ (including humans) violent intergroup conflict, but mountain gorillas are non-territorial herbivores with low feeding competition. While adult male gorillas have a defensible resource (i.e. females) and nursing/pregnant females are likely motivated to drive off potentially infanticidal intruders, the participation of others (e.g. juveniles, sub-adults, cycling females) is harder to explain. We speculate that the potential for severe group disruption when current alpha males are severely injured or killed may provide sufficient motivation when the costs to participants are low. These observations suggest that the gorilla population’s recent increase in multi-male groups facilitated the emergence of such behavior, and indicates social structure is a key predictor of coalitionary aggression even in the absence of meaningful resource stress. PMID:27849056

Sexual conflicts in spotted hyenas: male and female mating tactics and their reproductive outcome with respect to age, social status and tenure.

PubMed Central

East, Marion L; Burke, Terry; Wilhelm, Kerstin; Greig, Carolyn; Hofer, Heribert

2003-01-01

We investigated the reproductive outcomes of male and female mating tactics in the spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta, a female-dominated social carnivore with high maternal investment, an absence of paternal care and female control over copulation. Paternity was determined using microsatellite profiling of 236 offspring in 171 litters from three clans. We found little evidence that male tactics that sought to coerce or monopolize females were successful. Polyandry and sperm competition appeared to counter effectively pre-copulatory male tactics, such as harassment, monopolization and other tactics, such as infanticide, that were against the evolutionary interests of females, and may have contributed to the stability of the male dominance hierarchy, which operated as a social queue. At least 39% of 54 females mated multiply, and 35% of 75 twin litters were fathered by two sires. Polyandry may also serve to ensure fertilization, compensate for an initial poor-quality mate or ensure fertilization by genetically compatible mates. Female mate choice matched observed patterns of affiliative male-female behaviour, indicating that affiliative behaviour is a successful male mating tactic, and was consistent with the idea that male tenure may serve as an index of male quality, although male fertility may decline with extreme old age. PMID:12816637

Explaining negative kin discrimination in a cooperative mammal society

PubMed Central

Cant, Michael A.; Sanderson, Jennifer L.; Gilchrist, Jason S.; Bell, Matthew B. V.; Hodge, Sarah J.; Johnstone, Rufus A.

2017-01-01

Kin selection theory predicts that, where kin discrimination is possible, animals should typically act more favorably toward closer genetic relatives and direct aggression toward less closely related individuals. Contrary to this prediction, we present data from an 18-y study of wild banded mongooses, Mungos mungo, showing that females that are more closely related to dominant individuals are specifically targeted for forcible eviction from the group, often suffering severe injury, and sometimes death, as a result. This pattern cannot be explained by inbreeding avoidance or as a response to more intense local competition among kin. Instead, we use game theory to show that such negative kin discrimination can be explained by selection for unrelated targets to invest more effort in resisting eviction. Consistent with our model, negative kin discrimination is restricted to eviction attempts of older females capable of resistance; dominants exhibit no kin discrimination when attempting to evict younger females, nor do they discriminate between more closely or less closely related young when carrying out infanticidal attacks on vulnerable infants who cannot defend themselves. We suggest that in contexts where recipients of selfish acts are capable of resistance, the usual prediction of positive kin discrimination can be reversed. Kin selection theory, as an explanation for social behavior, can benefit from much greater exploration of sequential social interactions. PMID:28439031

Remaking the medico-legal scene: a social history of the late-Victorian coroner in Oxford.

PubMed

Hurren, Elizabeth T

2010-04-01

There have been wide-ranging debates about medicine and the law encapsulated in the figure of the coroner in Victorian England. Recently the historical literature on coroners has been enriched by macro-studies. Despite this important research, the social lives of coroners and their daily interactions remain relatively neglected in standard historical accounts. This article redresses that issue by examining the working life of the coroner for Oxford during the late-Victorian era. Edward Law Hussey kept very detailed records of his time in office as coroner. New research material makes it feasible to trace his professional background, from doctor of the sick poor, to hospital house surgeon and then busy coroner. His career trajectory, personal interactions, and professional disputes, provide an important historical prism illuminating contemporary debates that occupied coroners in their working lives. Hussey tried to improve his medico-legal reach and the public image of his coroner's office by reducing infanticide rates, converting a public mortuary, and acquiring a proper coroner's court. His campaigns had limited success because the social scene in which he worked was complicated by the dominance of health and welfare agencies that resented his role as an expanding arm of the Victorian information state.

Jewish views on abortion.

PubMed

Jakobovits, I

1968-01-01

In Jewish law right and wrong, good and evil, are absolute values which transcend time, place, and environment. They defy definition by human intuition or expediency. Jewish law derives from the Divine revelation at Mount Sinai as expounded by sages faithful to, and authorized by, its writ. The Talmud rules that if a woman is in hard travail, and her life must be saved, the child must be aborted and extracted. The mother's life comes first. The fetus is not a human life until it is born. But 19th century Rabbinical works state that it is immoral to destroy a monster child. Modern rabbis are unanimous in condemning abortion, feticide, or infanticide as an unconscionable attack on human life. However, Jewish law allows abortion if the pregnancy will cause severe psychological damage to the mother. No civilized society could survive without laws which occasionally cause some suffering or personal anguish. One human life is worth a million lives, because each life is infinite in value. In cases of rape or incest Jewish law still does not sanction abortion. Man's procreative responsibilities are serious and carry rights and obligations which would be upset by liberalized abortion laws. If a person kills a person who is mortally wounded, the killer is guilty of a moral offense.

Sexual rights and gender roles in a religious context.

PubMed

Zaidi, Shahida; Ramarajan, Arulmozhi; Qiu, Renzong; Raucher, Michal; Chadwick, Ruth; Nossier, Amna

2009-08-01

A common feature of the five faiths discussed in this article is change over time. This allowed diversity within the religions, and generally led to a degree of liberalization, but in some faiths or their sects, resulted in a narrow or rigid interpretation. For example, the golden Vedic Period of Hinduism in India when "women were worshipped" gradually faded, ushering in the social evils of female feticide, child marriage, and "sati." The advent of Islam in the seventh century banned female infanticide, but has been unable to abolish many tribal pre-Islamic customs such as female genital mutilation in Africa and "honor killings" in parts of Asia. On the other hand, in China, the inferior status of women accorded by Confucianism has been rectified to a large extent by legislation; this has, however, been offset by a restrictive population policy allowing only one child or two children per couple in some areas of the country (with no limit in Tibet), which has led millions of women to resort to prenatal sex diagnosis and abortion if the fetus is female. In the West, the debate over the use of biomedical technology continues, with various rabbinic rulings permitting the use of assisted reproductive technologies by Jews to fulfill the obligation to procreate, and the Vatican reinforcing its opposition to these and to genetic testing on embryos and embryonic stem cell research.

Characteristics of female mentally disordered offenders culpable under the new legislation in Japan: A gender comparison study.

PubMed

Nagata, Takako; Nakagawa, Atsuo; Matsumoto, Satoko; Shiina, Akihiro; Iyo, Masaomi; Hirabayashi, Naotsugu; Igarashi, Yoshito

2016-02-01

Although a substantial increase in the number of female offenders has drawn interest towards understanding their unique characteristics, few studies have investigated the characteristics of female mentally disordered offenders in Japan and none since the legislation enacted in 2005 in Japan, which provided for special services for them. The aim of this study is to identify those characteristics of people detained under this legislation, which distinguish the women from the men and may indicate special needs among the women. A retrospective records-based study of all patients admitted to one secure unit in the 8 years since its opening in July 2005 until a census date of 31 October 2013. Thirty-six (15%) of the patients were women. Marriage, mood disorders, past suicide attempts and homicide were more common among the women than the men. Six of the female offender-patients had committed filicides, of which four were infanticides. There appears to be a particularly vulnerable sub-group of women with severe mood disorders, a history of serious suicide attempts and young children at risk of harming those children. Our sample was small and from a single unit so, given the potential importance of improving understanding of who is at risk in such circumstances, extending our study nationally seems indicated. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Social and religious dimensions of unwanted pregnancy: an Islamic perspective.

PubMed

Kasule, O H

2003-03-01

The concept of 'unwanted pregnancy' is a recent in human history and is associated with social stresses of modern life. The purposes of the law, maqasid al shari'at, and its principles, qawa'id a shari'at, focus on preventing 'unwanted pregnancy', protecting the rights of the fetus and infant, and mitigating the adverse effects of 'unwanted pregnancy' by social measures. 'Unwanted pregnancy' is associated with general social determinants (hedonistic life styles, sexual transgression, addiction to drugs, fear of poverty, and low female status) and specific antecedent causes (sexual crimes, egoistic greed, maternal/fetal disease, and gender discrimination). It is prevented by sexual hygiene, marriage, contraception, deterring sexual crimes, and raising the status of women. The adverse sequelae of 'unwanted pregnancy' (feticide, infanticide, or child abuse and neglect) can be prevented by defending the basic human right of the fetus and infant to life, promoting social institutions for child welfare (nuclear family, extended family, foster care, and open adoption). Closed adoption is forbidden by Law but care in a foster home is allowed and is encouraged if the nuclear and extended families are unwilling or are unable to care for children. Abortion at any stage of pregnancy is a crime against humanity. It is not a solution to the problem but is part of the problem. It will encourage more 'unwanted pregnancies'.

Penal Code (Ordinance No. 12 of 1983), 1 July 1984.

PubMed

1987-01-01

This document contains provisions of the 1984 Penal Code of Montserrat relating to sexual offenses, abortion, offenses relating to marriage, homicide and other offenses against the person, and neglect endangering life or health. Part 8 of the Code holds that a man found guilty of raping a woman is liable to life imprisonment. Rape is deemed to involve unlawful (extramarital) sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent (this is determined if the rape involved force, threats, administration of drugs, or false representation). The Code also defines offenses in cases of incest, child abuse, prostitution, abduction, controlling the actions and finances of a prostitute, and having unlawful sexual intercourse with a mentally defective woman. Part 9 of the Code outlaws abortion unless it is conducted in an approved establishment after two medical practitioners have determined that continuing the pregnancy would risk the life or physical/mental health of the pregnant woman or if a substantial risk exists that the child would have serious abnormalities. Part 10 outlaws bigamy, and part 12 holds that infanticide performed by a mother suffering postpartum imbalances can be prosecuted as manslaughter. This part also outlaws concealment of the body of a newborn, whether that child died before, at, or after birth, and aggravated assault on any child not more than 14 years old. Part 12 makes it an offense to subject any child to neglect endangering its life or health.

Dowry and Public Policy in Contemporary India : The Behavioral Ecology of a "Social Evil".

PubMed

Shenk, Mary K

2007-09-01

In modern Indian political discourse the custom of dowry is often represented as the cause of serious social problems, including the neglect of daughters, sex-selective abortion, female infanticide, and the harassment, abuse, and murder of brides. Attempts to deal with these problems through legislative prohibition of dowry, however, have resulted in virtually no diminution of either dowry or violence against women. In contrast, radically different interpretations of dowry can be found in the literatures of structural-functionalist anthropology, economics, and human behavioral ecology which muster wide-ranging forms of qualitative and quantitative evidence to support functional models of dowry as a form of inheritance or investment in daughters and/or their children. This paper argues that a functionalist perspective on dowry could lead to improved dowry policy, and that an approach based in human behavioral ecology (HBE) is uniquely suited to this task. After reviewing the relevant literature on dowry in South Asia, I discuss current dowry legislation and its limitations. I then develop a behavioral ecology model of Indian dowry and test it with quantitative and qualitative data. I conclude that if dowry legislation is to achieve broad support or bring about effective social change, it must address and support the positive motivations for and effects of dowry and take a targeted approach to dowry violence, which is not uniformly distributed across regions, castes, or social classes.

Human shields mediate sexual conflict in a top predator.

PubMed

Steyaert, S M J G; Leclerc, M; Pelletier, F; Kindberg, J; Brunberg, S; Swenson, J E; Zedrosser, A

2016-06-29

Selecting the right habitat in a risky landscape is crucial for an individual's survival and reproduction. In predator-prey systems, prey often can anticipate the habitat use of their main predator and may use protective associates (i.e. typically an apex predator) as shields against predation. Although never tested, such mechanisms should also evolve in systems in which sexual conflict affects offspring survival. Here, we assessed the relationship between offspring survival and habitat selection, as well as the use of protective associates, in a system in which sexually selected infanticide (SSI), rather than interspecific predation, affects offspring survival. We used the Scandinavian brown bear (Ursus arctos) population with SSI in a human-dominated landscape as our model system. Bears, especially adult males, generally avoid humans in our study system. We used resource selection functions to contrast habitat selection of GPS-collared mothers that were successful (i.e. surviving litters, n = 19) and unsuccessful (i.e. complete litter loss, n = 11) in keeping their young during the mating season (2005-2012). Habitat selection was indeed a predictor of litter survival. Successful mothers were more likely to use humans as protective associates, whereas unsuccessful mothers avoided humans. Our results suggest that principles of predator-prey and fear ecology theory (e.g. non-consumptive and cascading effects) can also be applied to the context of sexual conflict. © 2016 The Authors.

Reproduction and Development of the Released Przewalski’s Horses (Equus przewalskii) in Xinjiang, China

PubMed Central

CHEN, Jinliang; WENG, Qiang; CHAO, Jie; HU, Defu; TAYA, Kazuyoshi

2008-01-01

In China, the first Przewalski’s horse (Equus przewalskii) group was released in Kalamaili Ungulate Protected Area in Xinjiang, in August 2001. The objective of this study was to investigate reproduction and development of released Przewalski’s horses in Xinjiang, China from 2002 to 2006. Twenty-four descendants were naturally born, average reproduction rate was 38.7%, and average survival rate of foals was 69.1% in this interim. Frequent alternation of the leading stallion and infertility in female horses due to environmental factors were main causes for the low reproduction rate. The infant mortality rate of released Przewalski’s horses was 25.0%, and 83.3% of death in infants was due to the leading stallion infanticide. The released Przewalski’s horses exhibited seasonal breeding, 70.8% of infants were born in May and June. The fertility rates were 8.3% in April and 37.5% in May, which were lower compared to those of the captive Przewalski’s horse groups (18.3% and 44.3%, respectively). Furthermore, the fertility rate in June was 33.3% and higher than the captive groups (18.3%). These findings showed that the breeding peak of the released Przewalski’s horse groups was later than the captive groups, and suggested that the altered survival environment and food supplies were the main reasons contributing to the delayed breeding peak. PMID:24833949

China's demographic dilemmas.

PubMed

Tien, H Y; Zhang, T; Ping, Y; Li, J; Liang, Z

1992-06-01

China's demographic dilemmas are discussed as the demographic surge during the 20th century, the demographic transition, the struggle to regulate fertility, population and development, and prospects for the future. Brief accounts are given of China's household registration system and the efforts in entry into the global economy. There are references, suggested readings, and discussion questions. Ample figures and tables express population growth, birth and death rates, fertility, sex ratios, population projections for these older than 65 and total population, contraception (IUDs, sterilizations, and abortions), abortion ratios, ethnic minority groups, provincial population data for 1990, schools and enrollment, health care resources, selected economic indicators, and availability of selected consumer items (sewing machines, watches, bicycles, electric fans, washers, refrigerators, televisions, radios, and cameras). Population planning has been successful in reducing the birth rate from 35/1000 in the 1950s to 20/1000 in the 1990s. 17 million persons are added annually. The projection for 2000 is 1.3 billion persons. The emphasis of the discussion is on the development and consequences of strict population planning control measures instituted in the 1970s and strengthened in the 1980s. In addition to curbing numbers, the measures have also led to a rapid aging of the population, a marriage squeeze, charges of female infanticide, and international censure. Population pressure is felt in urban areas, and in the labor force, education, and health systems. Industrialization has led to serious deterioration of natural resources. The gap between rural and urban population has widened.

The α-fetoprotein knock-out mouse model suggests that parental behavior is sexually differentiated under the influence of prenatal estradiol

PubMed Central

Keller, Matthieu; Pawluski, Jodi L.; Brock, Olivier; Douhard, Quentin; Bakker, Julie

2010-01-01

In rodent species, sexual differentiation of the brain for many reproductive processes depends largely on estradiol. This was recently confirmed again by using the α-fetoprotein knockout (AFP-KO) mouse model, which lacks the protective actions of α-fetoprotein against maternal estradiol and as a result represents a good model to determine the contribution of prenatal estradiol to the sexual differentiation of the brain and behavior. Female AFP-KO mice were defeminized and masculinized with regard to their neuroendocrine responses as well as sexual behavior. Since parental behavior is also strongly sexually differentiated in mice, we used the AFP-KO mouse model here to ask whether parental responses are differentiated prenatally under the influence of estradiol. It was found that AFP-KO females showed longer latencies to retrieve pups to the nest and also exhibited lower levels of crouching over the pups in the nest in comparison to WT females. In fact, they resembled males (WT and AFP-KO). Other measures of maternal behavior, for example the incidence of infanticide, tended to be higher in AFP-KO females than in WT females but this increase failed to reach statistical significance. The deficits observed in parental behavior of AFP-KO females could not be explained by any changes in olfactory function, novelty recognition or anxiety. Thus our results suggest that prenatal estradiol defeminizes the parental brain in mice. PMID:20109458

Women--an endangered species.

PubMed

1987-11-30

Throughout India and China, South Korea and Taiwan, Pakistan and Malaysia, the same sentiment recurs: "The birth of girl is an occasion for gloom, not cheer, for bitterness, not pleasure." In all these countries "patriarchal traditions and social stigmas" make females the unwanted sex, reports Asiaweek. The tragic result: prenatal gender tests are flourishing. And for many women, if the test indicates a female, they abort. In India, sex tests and abortions are legal, cheap and readily available. Some 1500 sex-tested girls are aborted annually in Bombay alone. In China, abortions are legal, but gender tests strictly forbidden. Says one official: We cannot afford to let people know what sex the fetus is because all the girls would be aborted." Yet the numbers of baby girls in China have been reduced--and illicit gender tests and female infanticide are considered partly to blame. In South Korea, gender tests have been banned and most abortions are illegal, but "clandestine tests" are available, and according to the government some 30,000 pregnancies are terminated annually. The number of aborted females is not known, but birth ratios have shown "an alarming swing towards males" in recent years. Can laws and education change the social attitudes against girls in these Asian countries? Indian activist Vibhuti Patel, a lobbyist for stronger controls over sex-testing, hopes so. She urges a "continuous campaign" to fight the "centuries-old values" that encourages gender tests. Says Patel: Nothing less than the very survival of women is at stake." full text

The influence of male takeovers on female dispersal in Colobus vellerosus.

PubMed

Sicotte, Pascale; Teichroeb, Julie A; Vayro, Josie V; Fox, Stephanie A; Bădescu, Iulia; Wikberg, Eva C

2017-07-01

Male takeovers affect male tenure, female mate choice and ultimately, individual reproductive success in group-living primates. In social systems with female philopatry and high male reproductive skew, male takeovers largely determine female mate choice, whereas in species with female dispersal, females have the option of deserting a new male. We focused on a species with facultative female dispersal to investigate which factors promote female desertion of males after takeover, using 15 cases (12 for which we have complete data on the takeover process and the female dispersal outcome). These cases took place in nine groups of Colobus vellerosus between 2001 and 2013 at the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Ghana. Quick takeovers were usually achieved by single adult males and were never followed by female dispersal. Slow takeovers involved several males, and these takeovers were regularly accompanied by female emigration. Infant attacks and infanticide by males occurred during both kinds of takeovers, but females with dependent offspring never dispersed, regardless of whether their infant was attacked or killed by the new male(s). Subadult females, who were not constrained by the presence of infants, dispersed more often after slow takeovers than after quick takeovers. Whether female dispersal post-takeover is an expression of female mate choice, or occurs to avoid the social upheaval surrounding slow takeovers, remains to be investigated. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22436, 2017. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A brief history of the Quality of Life: its use in medicine and in philosophy.

PubMed

Pennacchini, M; Bertolaso, M; Elvira, M M; De Marinis, M G

2011-01-01

The term Quality of Life (QoL) has been increasingly used in medical and philosophical literatures for the past four decades. The purpose of this article is to analyze how QoL is being used in medicine and in philosophy to understand its current status. In the 1960s and 1970s new technologies raised new questions for clinicians, so they used QoL as a parameter for making decisions in health issues. Consequently, researchers focused their interest on the construction and testing of instruments designed to measure health and QoL. However, all these instruments showed some conceptual and methodological problems that made the use of QoL in medicine difficult. While some researchers considered QoL an "idiosyncratic mystery", others believed that QoL was useful in implementing the patient's point of view into clinical practice and they suggested improving QoL's definition and methodology. In the 1980s, some consequentialist philosophers used QoL to formulate moral judgment, in particular they justified infanticide for some severely handicapped infants, and both euthanasia and suspension of life-sustaining treatment using QoL. In the 1990s, welfarist philosophers opened a new debate about QoL and they associated it with health and happiness. These philosophers developed QoL and those other concepts as subjectivist notions; consequently their definition and their measurements pose challenges. Afterwards researchers' interest in theoretical issues regarding QoL has fallen; nevertheless, physicians have continued to use QoL in clinical practice.

Opportunity knocks.

PubMed

Miller, B D

1990-01-01

A preference for bearing sons has existed for centuries in some cultures. In India, for example, female infanticide, the neglect of daughters, and the abuse and deprivation of adult females have long been common practice and an integral part of society. Bearing and nurturing sons at the expense of daughters resulted in the creation of large local forces of males considered to be a normal and necessary factor in maintaining the economic and political strength of the family, lineage, and village. Daughters were the expendable offspring. Indeed, the neglect and murder of female offspring has led to a national population in which there are 20-30 million fewer females than males. This skewed sex ratio is real and increasing in India, especially in recent decades. Scattered information on imbalanced sex ratios favoring males exists for some parts of eastern and southern India. Most evidence, however, indicates the existence of a longstanding and pervasive culture limiting female survival in the northwestern plains, especially among propertied groups. On this issue, northern India therefore resembles neighboring districts in Pakistan, while eastern India resembles Bangladesh. The author notes that progress in improving female child health in the Punjab, a region in which daughter neglect has been extreme and pervasive, signals hope for the future. At Ludhiana Christian Medical College, the decentralized program of household visits, careful record-keeping, and maternal education have been making a difference in female child survival rates. That program can and should serve as a model for the rest of India, with appropriate modifications depending upon the social and economic context.

Munchausen by proxy: the dark side of parental investment theory?

PubMed

Saad, Gad

2010-12-01

The parental investment hypothesis provides a parsimonious explanation for a wide range of sexually dimorphic traits and behaviors across countless species. In the human context, the hypothesis posits that in light of the differentially greater parental investment that human females provide to their offspring, they should be much more vested in the wellbeing of their children. Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP) occurs when a caregiver feigns or causes a medical condition in a dependent (typically a child). In the great majority of cases, the biological mother is the perpetrator, which is thus deeply surprising from an evolutionary perspective. I propose that for a small sample of women (e.g., those suffering from specific personality disorders and who do not possess the necessary support from their husbands/partners), the parental investment hypothesis is usurped or subverted in the service of their narcissistic need for attention (especially from high-status male physicians). Hence, in the same way that infanticide can be explained from a Darwinian perspective (despite it being at first glance incongruent with kin selection theory), MSbP appears to be equally amenable to an evolutionary analysis. One can test the hypothesis by demonstrating that the sex-specificity of the disorder holds true irrespective of cultural setting and epoch. Furthermore, one can look at single-parental families (as a means of controlling for the otherwise differential access to children in dual-parent homes) to show that within this controlled environment, mothers will remain the greater perpetrators of MSbP. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Age- and sex-specific analysis of homicide mortality as a function of economic development: a cross-national comparison.

PubMed

Moniruzzaman, Syed; Andersson, Ragnar

2005-01-01

This study examined the association between homicide rates and GNP per capita (as a measure of economic development) among all age- and sex-specific groups in 53 countries. Cross-sectional data on homicide rates by age- and sex- specific groups were obtained for 53 countries from World Health Statistics Annual 1996. The association between homicide rates and economic development was studied by using two methods: (1) with regression analysis and (2) by categorizing the data into four income-based country groups and then comparing the differences in their mean values. Results indicate that there was a negative correlation between homicide rates and economic development. The association between homicide rates and country GNP per capita became stronger with increasing age. Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient was strongest among older age groups (65+year) in both sexes (male, r = -0.77 and female, r = -0.71). The correlation was weakest and positive among 1- to 4-year-old children (males, r = 0.17 and females, r = 0.07). The homicide rate among females was highest for <1-year-old children in low income countries (LICs) (12.8 per 100,000). Lower middle-income countries are in the stage of high priority where both homicide rates and homicide as percentage of total death are high, and its impact was greatest for young males. However, infanticide as a public health problem seems highly concentrated in the poorest countries, while homicide among small children, 1-4 years old, appears to be a universal phenomenon across all nations.

Partial-birth abortion, Congress, and the Constitution.

PubMed

Annas, G J

1998-07-23

In the US, a new antiabortion strategy of using legislative and judicial forums to change the rhetoric of abortion rather than using abortion rhetoric to change the law arose out of disappointment when the 1992 Casey decision failed to overturn Roe. This new approach is crystallized by the 1995 introduction of federal legislation (vetoed by the President) to ban so-called "partial-birth" abortions. Opponents to this late-term procedure undertaken to preserve a women's life or health distinguish intact dilatation and extraction from induced labor to terminate a nonviable pregnancy (failing to recognize the lack of ethical difference) and make inaccurate political statements linking the abortion procedure to infanticide. When the ban was reintroduced to Congress in 1997, the previously silent American Medical Association agreed to support the bill if two "physician-friendly" amendments were added, but the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists made it clear that it is "inappropriate, ill advised, and dangerous" for legislative bodies to intervene into medical decision-making. The new version of the bill shifted the focus to all abortions after viability unless they are necessary to protect the mother from grievous harm to her physical (not mental) health, thus limiting the reach of the Roe decision. Clinton vetoed this bill also. Such legislation would be unlikely to prevent even one abortion, and its importance rests in its view of the proper role of government in regulating health care. This follows previous efforts to reframe the abortion debate by creating a dichotomy that marginalizes either women or fetuses and shifts the focus to another issue.

Mating-related behaviour of grizzly bears inhabiting marginal habitat at the periphery of their North American range.

PubMed

Edwards, Mark A; Derocher, Andrew E

2015-02-01

In comparison to core populations, peripheral populations have low density and recruitment, and are subject to different selective pressures, such as environmental conditions, food type and availability, predation, disease, etc., which may result in behavioural modifications to mating. We test the roam-to-mate hypothesis for a peripheral population of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) at the northern extent of their North American range, in Canada's Arctic. If bears are roaming-to-mate, we predicted greater range size and daily displacement, and more linear movements for receptive animals during the mating period compared to post-mating. In contrast to our predictions, we found that in general range size and displacement increased from mating to post-mating regardless of reproductive status. When considered across both periods, females with cubs-of-the-year had smaller range use metrics than other reproductive groups, which we attribute to a counter-strategy against sexually selected infanticide and the reduced mobility of cubs. Linearity of movements remained near zero during both periods across all groups, suggesting tortuous movements more characteristic of foraging than of mate-searching. We suggest that for this population, finding quality habitat takes precedence over mate-searching in this marginal Arctic landscape. Alternatively, a more monogamous mating system and sequestering behaviour may have obscured movement differences between the two periods. The behavioural differences in mating that we observed from what is typical of core populations may reflect local adaptation to marginal conditions and could benefit the species in the face of ongoing environmental change. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sex selection and restricting abortion and sex determination.

PubMed

Zilberberg, Julie

2007-11-01

Sex selection in India and China is fostered by a limiting social structure that disallows women from performing the roles that men perform, and relegates women to a lower status level. Individual parents and individual families benefit concretely from having a son born into the family, while society, and girls and women as a group, are harmed by the widespread practice of sex selection. Sex selection reinforces oppression of women and girls. Sex selection is best addressed by ameliorating the situations of women and girls, increasing their autonomy, and elevating their status in society. One might argue that restricting or prohibiting abortion, prohibiting sex selection, and prohibiting sex determination would eliminate sex selective abortion. But this decreases women's autonomy rather than increases it. Such practices will turn underground. Sex selective infanticide, and slower death by long term neglect, could increase. If abortion is restricted, the burden is placed on women seeking abortions to show that they have a legally acceptable or legitimate reason for a desired abortion, and this seriously limits women's autonomy. Instead of restricting abortion, banning sex selection, and sex determination, it is better to address the practice of sex selection by elevating the status of women and empowering women so that giving birth to a girl is a real and positive option, instead of a detriment to the parents and family as it is currently. But, if a ban on sex selective abortion or a ban on sex determination is indeed instituted, then wider social change promoting women's status in society should be instituted simultaneously.

The tribal girl child in Rajasthan.

PubMed

Bhanti, R

1995-01-01

This article describes the status of the girl child among tribes in India. Tribes have son preference but do not discriminate against girls by female infanticide or sex determination tests. Girls do not inherit land, but they are not abused, hated, or subjected to rigid social norms. Girls are not veiled and are free to participate in dancing and other recreational programs. There is no dowry on marriage. The father of the bridegroom pays a brideprice to the father of the girl. Widowed or divorced women are free to marry again. Daughters care for young children, perform housework, and work in the field with their brothers. In the tribal village of Choti Underi girls were not discriminated against in health and nutrition, but there was a gender gap in education. Both girls and boys were equally exposed to infection and undernourishment. Tribals experience high rates of infant and child mortality due to poverty and its related malnutrition. Child labor among tribals is a way of life for meeting the basic needs of the total household. A recent report on tribals in Rajasthan reveals that 15-20% of child labor involved work in mines that were dangerous to children's health. Girl children had no security provisions or minimum wages. Tribal children were exploited by human service agencies. Child laborers were raped. Government programs in tribal areas should focus on improving living conditions for children in general. Special programs for girls are needed for providing security in the workplace and increasing female educational levels. More information is needed on the work burden of tribal girls that may include wage employment as well as housework.

An increase in estradiol facilitates the onset of paternal behavior in the dwarf hamster (Phodopus campbelli).

PubMed

Romero-Morales, Luis; Martínez-Torres, Martín; Cárdenas, Mario; Álvarez, Carmen; Carmona, Agustín; Cedillo, Benita; Loya-Zurita, Eduardo; Luis, Juana

2018-03-01

In the dwarf hamster (Phodopus campbelli), activational effects of testosterone (T) and estradiol (E 2 ) in the regulation of paternal behavior have been repeatedly rejected because peripheral concentrations of E 2 do not change across the reproductive cycle of males. Further, castration no affected paternal behavior despite that both T and E 2 concentrations decreased significantly. However, the role of these hormones has not been evaluated in models of castration and hormonal replacement in virgin males. Here, we analysed the effects of E 2 and T in paternal behavior in virgin male dwarf hamster (Phodopus campbelli). Thirty paternal (PAT) males were bilaterally castrated; of them, 10 were implanted with T, 10 with E 2 and 10 males received no treatment. Other 10 PAT males underwent sham-castration. Seventeen aggressive (AGG) males were also bilaterally castrated; of these, 10 AGG received E 2 replacement, 7 were not treated. Other 7 AGG males were submitted to sham-castration. Following treatments, paternal behavior tests were conducted again. T and E 2 levels in plasma were quantified by radioimmunoassay (RIA). The results showed that the treatments did not affect the paternal behavior of males that were initially paternal. Neither castration nor sham-castration surgery affected the behavior of AGG males. However, when these males were treated with E 2 and the concentrations of this hormone increase significantly they became paternal. Our data suggest that an increase in E 2 levels shifted infanticidal behavior to paternal behavior in dwarf hamster. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neighbouring-group composition and within-group relatedness drive extra-group paternity rate in the European badger (Meles meles)

PubMed Central

Annavi, G; Newman, C; Dugdale, H L; Buesching, C D; Sin, Y W; Burke, T; Macdonald, D W

2014-01-01

Extra-group paternity (EGP) occurs commonly among group-living mammals and plays an important role in mating systems and the dynamics of sexual selection; however, socio-ecological and genetic correlates of EGP have been underexplored. We use 23 years of demographic and genetic data from a high-density European badger (Meles meles) population, to investigate the relationship between the rate of EGP in litters and mate availability, mate incompatibility and mate quality (heterozygosity). Relatedness between within-group assigned mothers and candidate fathers had a negative quadratic effect on EGP, whereas the number of neighbouring-group candidate fathers had a linear positive effect. We detected no effect of mean or maximum heterozygosity of within-group candidate fathers on EGP. Consequently, EGP was associated primarily with mate availability, subject to within-group genetic effects, potentially to mitigate mate incompatibility and inbreeding. In badgers, cryptic female choice, facilitated by superfecundation, superfoetation and delayed implantation, prevents males from monopolizing within-group females. This resonates with a meta-analysis in group-living mammals, which proposed that higher rates of EGP occur when within-group males cannot monopolize within-group females. In contrast to the positive meta-analytic association, however, we found that EGP associated negatively with the number of within-group assigned mothers and the number of within-group candidate fathers; potentially a strategy to counter within-group males committing infanticide. The relationship between the rate of EGP and socio-ecological or genetic factors can therefore be intricate, and the potential for cryptic female choice must be accounted for in comparative studies. PMID:25234113

Preference for sons: past and present.

PubMed

Li, D

1997-10-01

This brief article discusses the present and past preference for sons in China. The preference for sons is rooted in feudal views that men are superior to women. Preference for sons dates back to the Warring States Period, in about 500 B.C. Clan brotherhoods of men have existed for centuries. Historical records mention the practice of female infanticide. Patriarchal families believed that women were economically dependent on men and thus became their subjects. Daughters married, lived in their husband's home, and did not carry the responsibility of caring for their own parents. Couples with only daughters would seek a son-in-law to support them in old age. Rural families with no sons were looked down upon. Sons were expected to carry on the family lineage, increase the reputation of the family, and protect the family's interests. The lack of sons was a sign of humiliation and a curse. The founding of the People's Republic of China brought changes to son preference. The government attempted to increase women's status. In rural areas, women were given equal access to the land. Job opportunities were created for women during the industrialization drive. The Chinese government encouraged the repudiation of the negative impacts of the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius. Efforts were made to give men and women equal pay for equal work. Legislation was passed prohibiting arranged marriage, polygyny, and early marriage. A side effect of fertility decline is the renewed preference for sons. In Huangyan and Haining in Zhejiang, a developed province, the sex ratio at birth is normal. Sexual division of labor reinforces son preference.

Girl child abuse: violation of her human rights.

PubMed

Kapur, P

1995-01-01

The human rights of female children in India and elsewhere, even when protected on paper, are violated in practice. An equitable and egalitarian world order must be established. A comprehensive campaign is needed that combats gender-based inequalities, discrimination, exploitation, oppression, abuse, violence, inhuman values, and violations of human rights, particularly against female children. People must radically change their attitudes and actions towards female children. Female children are not a commodity or sex-object but "an equally worthy human being to be loved, respected, and cared for." Strategies that accomplish these ends include the promotion of human and spiritual values of love, compassion, and nonviolence, and discouragement of values of consumerism and materialism and worthlessness of human beings. Effective education and mass media should counter corruption, dishonesty, selfishness, and inhuman actions. Family structures need to strengthened and enriched. The abuse of female children occurs due to the following interrelated factors: entrenched patriarchal value systems, the perpetuation of traditions and practices that identify girls as inferior to boys, the gender-biased and discriminatory attitude that identifies girl children as a burden or liability and as a sex-object or commodity, and prevalent illiteracy, poverty, and negative parenting life style patterns. Other factors include the low status of women, the reduction in human and spiritual values, and the rise of consumerism and corruption. Girls are subjected to female infanticide, feticide, lack of social and economic development, burdensome domestic work, early marriage and childbearing, neglect and denial of healthy living conditions, sexual abuse and exploitation, prostitution, rape, and a denial of their right to protection.

Homicide in the western family and background factors of a perpetrator.

PubMed

Aho, Anna Liisa; Remahl, Anni; Paavilainen, Eija

2017-07-01

Familicide is a multiple-victim homicide incident in which the killer's spouse and one or more children are slain. A systematic review was conducted to reveal the background factors of western homicide perpetrators. The systematic search was performed in the Arto, Medic, Cinahl, Medline, EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier and Social Services abstracts databases. The keywords were familicide, family homicide, familicide-suicide, filicide-suicide, extended suicide, child, murder, family, filicide and infanticide. The searches revealed 4139 references from the databases. The references were filtered and 32 peer-reviewed research articles revealed in years 2004-2014 were selected as data. The articles were analysed using inductive content analysis, by finding all possible background factors related to homicide. The factors were described as percentages of the range. The background factors of familicide perpetrators were categorised as follows: perpetrators who had committed homicide of a child and intimate partner and possibly committed suicide; a father had who killed a child; a mother who had killed a child; a father who had committed a filicide-suicide; and a mother who had committed a filicide-suicide. Psychological instability, violence and crime were found in all these categories of familicides. Perpetrators who had committed a suicide in addition to the familicide had more often been diagnosed with depression, but they sought treatment for mental health problems less often and had violence and self-destructiveness less often in their background than in other familicide categories. Social and healthcare professionals should be more sensitive to emerging family problems and be prepared for intervention.

An emergentist vs a linear approach to social change processes: a gender look in contemporary India between modernity and Hindu tradition.

PubMed

Condorelli, Rosalia

2015-01-01

Using Census of India data from 1901 to 2011 and national and international reports on women's condition in India, beginning with sex ratio trends according to regional distribution up to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions and dowry deaths, this study examines the sociological aspects of the gender imbalance in modern contemporary India. Gender inequality persistence in India proves that new values and structures do not necessarily lead to the disappearance of older forms, but they can co-exist with mutual adaptations and reinforcements. Data analysis suggests that these unexpected combinations are not comprehensible in light of a linear concept of social change which is founded, in turn, on a concept of social systems as linear interaction systems that relate to environmental perturbations according to proportional cause and effect relationships. From this perspective, in fact, behavioral attitudes and interaction relationships should be less and less proportionally regulated by traditional values and practices as exposure to modernizing influences increases. And progressive decreases should be found in rates of social indicators of gender inequality like dowry deaths (the inverse should be found in sex ratio trends). However, data does not confirm these trends. This finding leads to emphasize a new theoretical and methodological approach toward social systems study, namely the conception of social systems as complex adaptive systems and the consequential emergentist, nonlinear conception of social change processes. Within the framework of emergentist theory of social change is it possible to understand the lasting strength of the patriarchal tradition and its problematic consequences in the modern contemporary India.

Culture, political economy and gender marginalisation: a case of girl child in India.

PubMed

Punalekar, S P

1995-01-01

This article discusses female children and the impact of macro- and micro- economic and cultural aspects of gender neglect and marginalization. Although gender marginalization is a widely accepted theoretical concern, the explanations for women's vulnerability vary. One view holds that changes in relations of production and in the system of property relations will automatically resolve gender issues. Another view holds that cultural factors are responsible for entrenched female inequalities. This paper argues that culture is not one-dimensional. Culture affects the material activity of people and their ideas. Feminists over the past two decades have promoted a generalized consciousness about women and their strategic role in production and reproduction, especially female children. Research inadequately addresses issues affecting the female child. In the domestic or household sphere, evidence suggests that the female child experiences greater child mortality, infanticide, and sex-selective abortion, and lower health status. Female children have greater micronutrient deficiencies, growth retardation, and micronutrient deficiencies. In times of natural disasters or crises, girls were found to suffer more from malnutrition than boys. The enrollment and retention of girls in school is lower than boys. Cultural stereotyping and restrictions on movement subject girls to the authority and control of male children and adult males. Girls are socialized differently and are not encouraged to be autonomous or to use initiative. In the public sphere, girls are used by families to serve household and production needs of the family and other relatives. Working wages for girls are very low, and working conditions are oppressive. The economic status of the household determines allocation of work, access to education, and lifestyle.

Dowry calculations: daughter's rights in her parental family.

PubMed

Kishwar, M

1993-01-01

The practice of dowry in India has become identified as the primary cause of women's oppression. It sets families apart in the fight over dowry payments and results in violence against daughters including infanticide. Daughter's get their share of inheritance at the time of marriage under traditional Hindu law. The Dowry Prohibition Act outlaws this practice. On the other hand, customary law allowed entitlements to women which Victorian norms bypassed, thereby paving the way for the disinheritance of women. The ownership of land was vested exclusively in men, and, as land became scarce and women's labor became devalued, women came to be treated as mere dependents and considered as a liability. With the entrance of men into government service as policemen and bank and postal clerks, their status increased, while women continued working in the peasant economy. Government job holders received the biggest dowries because of their access to economic opportunities. Under the Hindu Succession Act, fathers were allowed to will away property in whosoever's favor, which led to the disinheritance of daughters in favor of sons. Inheritance laws increasingly moved in favor of men and against women. Changing marriage patterns also emerged, as paying exorbitant dowries was perceived as a way of upward social mobility. The wife inherited everything at the expense of daughters, and widows automatically got a pension after the husband. Therefore, the wife's right had a stronger social sanction than the rights of daughters in parental property, especially the right to live in the parental home and take care of old parents, should be the solution to this injustice. Thus, parents would look at daughters in the same light as sons, and the culture of women's devaluation would come to an end.

Female feticide in India.

PubMed

Ahmad, Nehaluddin

2010-01-01

Women are murdered all over the world. But in India a most brutal form of killing females takes place regularly, even before they have the opportunity to be born. Female feticide--the selective abortion of female fetuses--is killing upwards of one million females in India annually with far-ranging and tragic consequences. In some areas, the sex ratio of females to males has dropped to less than 8000:1000. Females not only face inequality in this culture, they are even denied the right to be born. Why do so many families selectively abort baby daughters? In a word: economics. Aborting female fetuses is both practical and socially acceptable in India. Female feticide is driven by many factors, but primarily by the prospect of having to pay a dowry to the future bridegroom of a daughter. While sons offer security to their families in old age and can perform the rites for the souls of deceased parents and ancestors, daughters are perceived as a social and economic burden. Prenatal sex detection technologies have been misused, allowing the selective abortions of female offspring to proliferate. Legally, however, female feticide is a penal offence. Although female infanticide has long been committed in India, feticide is a relatively new practice, emerging concurrently with the advent of technological advancements in prenatal sex determination on a large scale in the 1990s. While abortion is legal in India, it is a crime to abort a pregnancy solely because the fetus is female. Strict laws and penalties are in place for violators. These laws, however, have not stemmed the tide of this abhorrent practice. This article will discuss the socio-legal conundrum female feticide presents, as well as the consequences of having too few women in Indian society.

Contraception: traditional and religious attitudes.

PubMed

Schenker, J G; Rabenou, V

1993-04-01

Humans have tried to control fertility for centuries. Primitive, preliterate societies practiced infanticide and abortion. When primitive women understood the advantages of conception control, they tried, when possible, to use contraception. In the 4th century B.C., Plato and Aristotle advocated a one-child family. Greek medical literature reported a hollow tube inserted through the cervix into the uterus and a potion as contraceptives. Islamic physicians had much knowledge about conception control. The attitudes toward contraception. In the 5th century B.C., Saint Augustine condemned contraception, even among married couples. The condom emerged in the early modern period. Yet, they were usually worn to protect against disease, e.g., bilharzia in Egypt and syphilis in Europe. The cervical cap and the diaphragm are examples of occlusive pessaries. By 1880, contraceptives and spermicides were advertised. In 1928, the IUD joined the existing contraceptives. Today we have combined oral contraceptives. Judaic law requires husbands to fulfill their wives sexual needs, separate from their duty to procreate. It also calls men, not women, to procreate and forbids men from masturbating, thus Judaic law does not forbid women from practicing contraception. The Roman Catholic church forbids contraceptive use because it is a sin against nature. Some Protestant denominations have allowed contraceptive use. Islamic law states that children are gifts from Allah. Some Moslems believe that they must have many children, but Allah and the Prophet state that children have rights to education and future security. These rights allow couples to prevent pregnancy. Neither Hinduism nor Buddhism prohibit contraceptive use. Differences in husband-wife communication, sex roles, access to contraceptives, and traditional family values will have more of an effect on contraceptive use and fertility than theological barriers or the social class of religious groups.

Girl child and gender bias.

PubMed

Chowdhry, D P

1995-01-01

This article identifies gender bias against female children and youth in India. Gender bias is based on centuries-old religious beliefs and sayings from ancient times. Discrimination is reflected in denial or ignorance of female children's educational, health, nutrition, and recreational needs. Female infanticide and selective abortion of female fetuses are other forms of discrimination. The task of eliminating or reducing gender bias will involve legal, developmental, political, and administrative measures. Public awareness needs to be created. There is a need to reorient the education and health systems and to advocate for gender equality. The government of India set the following goals for the 1990s: to protect the survival of the girl child and practice safe motherhood; to develop the girl child in general; and to protect vulnerable girl children in different circumstances and in special groups. The Health Authorities should monitor the laws carefully to assure marriage after the minimum age, ban sex determination of the fetus, and monitor the health and nutrition of pre-school girls and nursing and pregnant mothers. Mothers need to be encouraged to breast feed, and to breast feed equally between genders. Every village and slum area needs a mini health center. Maternal mortality must decline. Primary health centers and hospitals need more women's wards. Education must be universally accessible. Enrollments should be increased by educating rural tribal and slum parents, reducing distances between home and school, making curriculum more relevant to girls, creating more female teachers, and providing facilities and incentives for meeting the needs of girl students. Supplementary income could be provided to families for sending girls to school. Recreational activities must be free of gender bias. Dowry, sati, and devdasi systems should be banned.

Girl child in rural India.

PubMed

Devendra, K

1995-01-01

This article discusses the status of the girl child in rural India. Rural children lack the advantages of modern amenities and facilities, such as transportation, electricity, media, hygiene, health care, and access to education. A young girl's status is related to her mother's status. Women are valued the most when a son is born. Girl children are considered an economic liability in child care costs, dowry costs, and marriage support. Since the 1970s, dowry demands have increased. Daughters must meet the demands of prospective in-law for education and dowry even after marriage. The attitudes of parents, families, and society encourage sex-selective abortion, infanticide, abuse in childhood, and domestic violence in adulthood. It was reported in 1994 that a woman is molested every 26 minutes and raped every 52 minutes. The government of India developed an action plan in 1992 for developing the girl child. Rural girl children spend their time cooking, cleaning, fetching wood and water, caring for children, and working in the fields sowing, transplanting, and weeding. Girl children contribute over 20% of total work at home. The only advantage a girl child has in rural areas is visibility. The greatest disadvantage is that her mother, who faced neglect herself, discriminates against her. Increasingly girl children contribute income to their household from Beedi making, gem polishing, embroidering, or paper bag making. Sometimes girls and boys work in hazardous occupations. Gender disparity is evident in school enrollment, drop out rates, literacy, and employment. In 1994, India passed a universal female education bill that offers parents incentives for access and punishment for keeping a girl out of school. Communities need to create a demand for rural girl children's education.

Epidemiological data on shaken baby syndrome in France using judicial sources.

PubMed

Tursz, Anne; Cook, Jon Mark

2014-12-01

The frequency of and risk factors for shaken baby syndrome remain poorly documented for several reasons: the real number of "benign" cases of shaken baby syndrome are not known; information sources used are diverse, there have been changes over time in the definition of this pathology and few population-based epidemiological studies are available. Estimate the frequency of fatal shaken baby syndrome and determine its risk factors through research carried out on fatal cases in three regions of France while comparing them to data from international publications. A retrospective epidemiological study of all cases of fatal shaken baby syndrome affecting infants younger than 1 year of age who were examined by the courts during a 5-year period in a defined geographical area. Shaken baby syndrome cases were compared with infanticide cases for risk factors and a comparison was made of family characteristics with those of the general population. Thirty-seven cases of shaken baby syndrome were recorded (a rate of 2.9 for 100,000 live births). As in other studies, we found a strong predominance of male victims (78%), young age (median age: 4 months) and a high rate of prematurity (22%). Conversely, results on family educational and socioeconomical levels differ from those reported in numerous studies. Parent perpetrators of shaken baby syndrome belong to higher social classes than those of other types of homicide and socially reflect the population they come from. Our study suggests 1) that epidemiological studies on shaken baby syndrome should include both medical and judicial information sources and 2) that primary prevention strategies (especially in maternity wards) should target all social classes.

Integrated health of the girl child.

PubMed

Ghosh, S

1995-01-01

This article discusses factors that affect the well-being and health of female children in India: sex ratio, literacy, food intake, morbidity, mortality, early marriage, maternal mortality, nutrition, prenatal care and delivery, family planning responsibilities, and access to health services. India has recognized within its Constitution and other government documents and programs equality for women, but practices lag behind principles. A National Action Plan was formulated for the period 1991-2000 for the girl child. Women themselves must change their attitudes about themselves and their female children. Several pilot programs have demonstrated the potential to empower girls to be outspoken, vocal, and enthusiastic. Girls in India are disadvantaged even before their birth. Patriarchal norms reinforce the view of girls as a bad investment. Women are blamed for not bearing a son, despite the evidence that males carry the deciding gender-specific chromosome. Tamil Nadu districts are known for their female infanticide. The declining sex ratio is attributed to the higher death rate among females younger than 35 years. Females until recently had a lower life expectancy than males. Sex ratios vary between states. The only state with a positive female sex ratio is Kerala. Males outnumber females by almost 10% in most of the northern and eastern states. Illiteracy among women is high in about 100 districts. Female school enrollment is 50% less than male enrollment. Females suffer from higher rates of malnutrition, morbidity, and death. Girls' adolescent growth spurt is delayed until 18 years. Maternal mortality accounts for the largest proportion of deaths among women of reproductive age. The most common reason for abortion is "too many children." Lower socioeconomic status is associated with lower nutrition. Women do not have control over their fertility. Women are limited in their access to reproductive health care.

China's "missing girls": prospects and policy.

PubMed

Riley, N E

1996-02-01

Women's conditions in China are viewed as deteriorating. The reduction in government control over urban factories and other places of employment has resulted in fewer women being hired. This leaves women in positions with low wages, poor working conditions, and discrimination based on sex, age, and marital status. The shift from rural state-controlled agricultural collectives to patriarchal family controls resulted in land distribution that gave men preference. The rapid growth in the economy and higher standards of living placed women at risk. Although the pressures to kill girl babies have relaxed, there is growing interest in making money from abducting and selling women for prostitution, marriage, and slavery. Women gained in recent decades greater participation in the labor force and higher educational levels. Women's access to health care is better. Female life expectancy is 72 years compared to 69 years for men. Maternal mortality is 95 deaths per 100,000 live births. Yet women hold subordinate positions to men in their jobs, and women are segregated in the textile and service industries. Women in rural areas have primarily access to agricultural jobs, which can be combined with child care. Women are less likely to be promoted and are retired 5 years earlier than men. Women carry a double burden of domestic labor and paid or unpaid labor. Women still have higher illiteracy rates than men, and the gender gap in higher education has remained stable since the 1970s. The imbalanced sex ratio is increasing. In some provinces it is 114 males for every 100 females, when the normal ratio is 105-106 males per 100 females. An estimated 12% of females are unaccounted for each year. The reasons for the missing children are identified as sex-selective abortion, infanticide, or underreporting. The next five-year plan holds the hope for improvement in women's status and an end to abuses against women and children.

Applicability of Age-Based Hunting Regulations for African Leopards

PubMed Central

Balme, Guy Andrew; Hunter, Luke; Braczkowski, Alex Richard

2012-01-01

In species in which juvenile survival depends strongly on male tenure, excessive trophy hunting can artificially elevate male turnover and increase infanticide, potentially to unsustainable levels. Simulation models show that the likelihood of safe harvests can be improved by restricting offtakes to males old enough to have reared their first cohort of offspring to independence; in the case of African leopards, males were ≥7 years old. Here, we explore the applicability of an age-based approach for regulating trophy hunting of leopards. We conducted a structured survey comprising photographs of known-age leopards to assess the ability of wildlife practitioners to sex and age leopards. We also evaluated the utility of four phenotypic traits for use by trophy hunters to age male leopards in the field. Our logistic regression models showed that male leopard age affected the likelihood of survey respondents identifying the correct sex; notably, males <2 years were typically misidentified as females, while mature males (≥4 years) were sexed correctly. Mature male leopards were also more likely to be aged correctly, as were portrait photographs. Aging proficiency was also influenced by the profession of respondents, with hunters recording the lowest scores. A discriminant model including dewlap size, the condition of the ears, and the extent of facial scarring accurately discriminated among male leopard age classes. Model classification rates were considerably higher than the respective scores attained by survey respondents, implying that the aging ability of hunters could theoretically improve with appropriate training. Dewlap size was a particularly reliable indicator of males ≥7 years and a review of online trophy galleries suggested its wider utility as an aging criterion. Our study demonstrated that an age-based hunting approach is practically applicable for leopards. However, implementation would require major reform within the regulatory framework and the hunting industry. PMID:22493739

Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, -- adopted at the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress on April 3, 1992.

PubMed

1992-08-01

The new law acts in accordance with the Constitution and the actual conditions of the country to protect women's lawful rights and interests, promote equality between men and women, and allow full play to women's role in socialist modernization in all aspects of political, economic, cultural, social, and family life. The state shall protect the special rights and interests enjoyed by women according to law and gradually perfect its social security system with respect to women. Women possess political rights equal with men, enjoy the right to vote and to stand for election, conduct state affairs, manage economic and cultural undertakings, and administer social affairs. Women are guaranteed the same rights with men with respect to culture and education for starting school, entering a higher school, job assignment upon graduation, conferring of academic degrees, and dispatch for study abroad. Guardians must ensure that female school age children receive compulsory education. The state shall guarantee that women enjoy the equal right with men to work, except where special types of work are unsuitable to women, and that women shall receive equal pay for equal work. Women shall be under special protection during their menstrual period, pregnancy, obstetrical period, and nursing period. Women shall enjoy equal rights with men to property and to their person. Drowning, abandoning, or infanticide in any manner of female babies shall be prohibited; discrimination against or maltreatment of women who give birth to female babies or women who are sterile shall be prohibited. Maltreatment or abandonment of aged women shall be prohibited. Women shall enjoy equal rights in marriage and family, and divorce. Women have the right to childbearing in accordance with relevant regulations and the freedom not to bear any child. When a woman's lawful rights are infringed, she has the right to request disposition or bring a lawsuit in a people's court.

Unmarried women’s ways of facing single motherhood in Sri Lanka – a qualitative interview study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background In Sri Lanka, motherhood within marriage is highly valued. Sex out of wedlock is socially unacceptable and can create serious public health problems such as illegal abortions, suicide and infanticide, and single motherhood as a result of premarital sex is considered shameful. The way unmarried women facing single motherhood reflect on and make use of their agency in their social environments characterised by limited social and financial support has consequences for the health and well-being of both themselves and their children. The aim of this study was to explore and describe how unmarried women facing single motherhood in Sri Lanka handle their situation. Methods This qualitative study comprised semi-structured interviews with 28 unmarried pregnant women or single mothers. The data were analysed by qualitative content analysis and the results related to the conceptual framework of social navigation. Results The women facing single motherhood expressed awareness of having trespassed norms of sexuality through self-blame, victimhood and obedience, and by considering or attempting suicide. They demonstrated willingness to take responsibility for becoming pregnant before marriage by giving the child up for adoption, bringing up the child themselves, claiming a father for their child, refraining from marriage in the future, permanently leave their home environment, and taking up employment. Throughout the interviews, the women expressed fear of shame, and striving for familial and societal acceptance and financial survival. Conclusions A social environment highly condemning of unmarried motherhood hindered these women from making strategic choices on how to handle their situation. However, to achieve acceptance and survival, the women tactically navigated norms of femininity, strong family dependence, a limited work market, and different sources of support. Limited access to resources restricted the women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, including their ability to make acceptable and healthy choices for themselves and their children. PMID:23388103

Recovery Potential of a Western Lowland Gorilla Population following a Major Ebola Outbreak: Results from a Ten Year Study

PubMed Central

Gatti, Sylvain; Levréro, Florence; Bigot, Elodie; Caillaud, Damien; Pierre, Jean-Sébastien; Ménard, Nelly

2012-01-01

Investigating the recovery capacity of wildlife populations following demographic crashes is of great interest to ecologists and conservationists. Opportunities to study these aspects are rare due to the difficulty of monitoring populations both before and after a demographic crash. Ebola outbreaks in central Africa have killed up to 95% of the individuals in affected western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) populations. Assessing whether and how fast affected populations recover is essential for the conservation of this critically endangered taxon. The gorilla population visiting Lokoué forest clearing, Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of the Congo, has been monitored before, two years after and six years after Ebola affected it in 2004. This allowed us to describe Ebola's short-term and long-term impacts on the structure of the population. The size of the population, which included around 380 gorillas before the Ebola outbreak, dropped to less than 40 individuals after the outbreak. It then remained stable for six years after the outbreak. However, the demographic structure of this small population has significantly changed. Although several solitary males have disappeared, the immigration of adult females, the formation of new breeding groups, and several birth events suggest that the population is showing potential to recover. During the outbreak, surviving adult and subadult females joined old solitary silverbacks. Those females were subsequently observed joining young silverbacks, forming new breeding groups where they later gave birth. Interestingly, some females were observed joining silverbacks that were unlikely to have sired their infant, but no infanticide was observed. The consequences of the Ebola outbreak on the population structure were different two years and six years after the outbreak. Therefore, our results could be used as demographic indicators to detect and date outbreaks that have happened in other, non-monitored gorilla populations. PMID:22649511

‘Pregnancy Has Its Advantages’: The Voices of Street Connected Children and Youth in Eldoret, Kenya

PubMed Central

Wachira, Juddy; Kamanda, Allan; Embleton, Lonnie; Naanyu, Violet; Ayuku, David; Braitstein, Paula

2016-01-01

Objective Little is known about the reproductive health or family planning needs of street-connected children and youth in resource-constrained countries. The study objective was to describe how street-connected children and youth (SCCY) in Eldoret, Kenya, perceive pregnancy. Methods This qualitative study was conducted between August 2013 and February 2014. A total of 65 SCCY aged 11–24 years were purposively sampled from the three referral points: 1) A dedicated study clinic for vulnerable children and youth at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH); 2) Primary locations in which street children reside known as “bases/barracks”; and 3) Street youth community-based organizations. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were audio recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. Content analysis was performed after thematic coding by 4 independent coders. Results The majority of SCCY interviewed were male (69%) and sexually active (81.5%). None had gone beyond primary level of education. The strong desire for SCCY to go through conventional life experiences including marriage and child bearing was evident. Sub-themes around desired pregnancies included: sense of identity with other SCCY, sense of hope, male ego, lineage, source of income, and avoiding stigmatization. The desire for children was highly gendered with male SCCY more focused on their social status in the street community, while for females it was primarily for survival on the street. Female SCCY generally lacked agency around reproductive health issues and faced gender-based violence. Abortions (either assisted or self-induced), infanticide, and child abandonment were reported. Respondents described a lucrative market for babies born to SCCY and alleged that healthcare workers were known to abduct these babies following hospital deliveries. Conclusion Our findings indicate gender differences in the reasons why SCCY become pregnant and have children. We also noted gender inequalities in reproductive health decisions. SCCY friendly interventions that provide tailored reproductive health services are needed. PMID:26942724

Violence against women.

PubMed

Nelson, T

1996-01-01

This essay opens its discussion of violence against women by referring to the 1994 television broadcast of a 10-year-old Egyptian girl undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) without benefit of infection control measures or anesthesia at the hands of a local barber. After presenting a brief description of FGM, its various justifications, and its impacts on its victims, the official Egyptian policy is described as ambiguous, and the broadcast is shown to have caused influential religious leaders and medical personnel to defend FGM and, thus, led to postponement of a bill to outlaw FGM. The next section of the essay shows that Egypt's response to FGM reflects the international debate on all forms of violence against women emerging from and reinforcing the social relationships that give men power over women. These forms of violence include domestic violence in almost all societies; the dowry-related, bride-burning homicides that claim 5000-12,000 lives each year in India; son preference that leads to abortion of female fetuses and female infanticide; and crimes such as rape, sexual abuse, and forced prostitution. The essay continues with a look at the costs of violence hidden in the damage to women that increases health care costs substantially and reduces economic productivity. Violence towards women, which occurs throughout the world and can prevent women from participating in public life or from controlling their fertility, is a male tool to inhibit women from gaining autonomy outside the home. The essay concludes that victims of violence are beginning to break the silence that surrounded these deeds and are seeking legislative protection. Laws may not result in real-life changes, but the movement to eliminate FGM may prove to be the first success in women's efforts to achieve human rights. An example is the important precedent being set in the US by a woman seeking asylum to avoid facing an arranged marriage and FGM in her native Togo.

History of son preference and sex selection in India and in the west.

PubMed

Bandyopadhyay, Sutapa; Singh, Amarjeet

2003-01-01

In the history of mankind, there was a time when women dominated the world. In due course of time, as the patriarchal societies evolved, the status of women gradually declined. Sons were preferred to daughters. In India, the Brahmin community promoted such customs and rituals, which gave more and more importance to sons eg. Lighting the funeral pyre of the father was told to be a pre-condition for salvation of his spirit. Similarly, in western civilization also women were considered to be weak. In consonance with such a mind-set man has been trying various techniques for sex-selection since antiquity eg. for acquiring a son choosing a special day, time and posture for sexual intercourse, special diet, charms and amulet and prayers etc. In Vedas also punsavana karma has been described as a technique for acquiring a son. Apart from these techniques, female infanticide has also been used as a way to create a male dominated, son-worshipping society. On development of the technique of ultrasonography as an example of progress of science and technology, man has devised a new way of killing females in womb itself, which has resulted in continuous decline in female: male sex ratio in India. To stop this, Indian Govt. promulgated PNDT Act 1994. But considering the widely prevalent practice of use of various regimen of sex-pre-selection by people as well as unscrupulous medical practitioners, Govt. of India has amended this Act (2002). Still, as authors have found in one of their studies, sex-selection drugs are being used widely by north Indians for getting a son. Here, it should be noted that sex-selection methods are being used in west also. But the perspective is different. There, it is not used for female feticide or for acquiring a son. Rather, it is more an effort towards demonstrating the control of man over the NATURE.

Roe v. Wade. On abortion.

PubMed

French, M

1998-01-01

In ancient Assyria, fathers held the right of life or death over their newborn infants, but women found to have performed an abortion on themselves or others were impaled and denied burial. This punishment was otherwise reserved for crimes against the state such as high treason or assault on the king. Likewise, in Babylon if a wife arranged her husband's death so that she could marry another man, she was convicted of treason and impaled or crucified. Thus, ancient thought paralleled the husband-wife relationship with that of the state-subject. The small group of men who generally dominate institutions such as the state, the church, or a corporation have a primary demand for obedience and deference to their supreme authority from their underlings. These groups did not condemn abortion because it involved questions of life or death. After all, many states have permitted infanticide, many still sanction execution, and all are willing to sacrifice the lives of their soldiers in war. Patriarchs condemn abortion because they consider it treasonous for a woman to assert the right to use her own judgement and to treat her body as if it were her own and not the property of her husband. This denies the supremacy of the male, which is the first principle of patriarchs. Because patriarchal institutions depend upon the subjection of women, women's bodies become important markers in the struggle for human freedom. This explains why patriarchal institutions in the US have continuously attacked women's right to abortion by fragmenting the statute allowing abortion and attempting to render the fragments illegal. While US women have won other rights that can be protected legally, women require the right to abortion in order to possess the right to physical integrity and to be able to undo what men have done to them. Otherwise, men would be able to create a set-back in women's human rights by forcing women into motherhood.

'Pregnancy Has Its Advantages': The Voices of Street Connected Children and Youth in Eldoret, Kenya.

PubMed

Wachira, Juddy; Kamanda, Allan; Embleton, Lonnie; Naanyu, Violet; Ayuku, David; Braitstein, Paula

2016-01-01

Little is known about the reproductive health or family planning needs of street-connected children and youth in resource-constrained countries. The study objective was to describe how street-connected children and youth (SCCY) in Eldoret, Kenya, perceive pregnancy. This qualitative study was conducted between August 2013 and February 2014. A total of 65 SCCY aged 11-24 years were purposively sampled from the three referral points: 1) A dedicated study clinic for vulnerable children and youth at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH); 2) Primary locations in which street children reside known as "bases/barracks"; and 3) Street youth community-based organizations. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were audio recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. Content analysis was performed after thematic coding by 4 independent coders. The majority of SCCY interviewed were male (69%) and sexually active (81.5%). None had gone beyond primary level of education. The strong desire for SCCY to go through conventional life experiences including marriage and child bearing was evident. Sub-themes around desired pregnancies included: sense of identity with other SCCY, sense of hope, male ego, lineage, source of income, and avoiding stigmatization. The desire for children was highly gendered with male SCCY more focused on their social status in the street community, while for females it was primarily for survival on the street. Female SCCY generally lacked agency around reproductive health issues and faced gender-based violence. Abortions (either assisted or self-induced), infanticide, and child abandonment were reported. Respondents described a lucrative market for babies born to SCCY and alleged that healthcare workers were known to abduct these babies following hospital deliveries. Our findings indicate gender differences in the reasons why SCCY become pregnant and have children. We also noted gender inequalities in reproductive health decisions. SCCY friendly interventions that provide tailored reproductive health services are needed.

Population and women's health.

PubMed

Abernethy, V

1994-01-01

Explanations of cultural patterns can be found in the economic context (carrying capacity) in which they develop. Population pressure explains the abuse of women throughout history and in modern times because overpopulation leads to devaluation of women's reproductive capacity. A cultural response to overpopulation includes practices that limit the numbers of women of reproductive age. Such practices foster son preference, which results in selective abortion, female infanticide, neglect and overwork of girls, dowry deaths, and discrimination against widows. The results of these practices are manifest in sex ratios that are culturally rather than naturally controlled and in demographic facts such as the calculation that 60 million females are missing in Asia alone (and perhaps more than 100 million worldwide). Women are also removed from a reproductive setting by being kidnapped or sold into prostitution or by being forced to adopt prostitution for economic survival. In cases where survival is threatened by environmental degradation and population growth, the most harsh cultural practices will emerge to adapt the population to the resources at hand. This situation creates an ethical dilemma posed by the problem of imposing Western values on a culture that is undertaking adaptive practices to insure its very survival. Ways to help women in these situation include limiting population growth humanely through family planning, provision of paid work to women, and creation of an environment that supports a small family ideal. Prosperity itself, through modernization, sometimes causes family sizes to increase. The most important intervention appears to be the provision of paid employment outside the home for women. On the other hand, large-scale wealth transfers and liberal immigration policies simply send signals that population pressure is a regional problem that can be alleviated by the international community. Increasing immigration to developed countries will place pressure on the women of those countries by increasing population. The fact that population size in the US is expected to double in 64 years already poses a threat to the status of US women who are not immune from cultural processes.

Some important issues on population and sustainable development in China.

PubMed

Zeng, Y

1994-12-01

A workshop was held in October 1993, at which time the Director of the Institute of Population Research at Peking University proposed that basic education for Chinese children be promoted, that the social, economic, and family status of Chinese women be improved, and that the social security of the elderly be improved. Sustainable development would be dependent upon the accomplishment of these three objectives. The evidence from 1982 and 1990 censuses showed that fertility was higher by as much as 2.4 times among women with no education compared to women with just a primary education. The education law should be strictly implemented. Rural families still disrupt their children's schooling in order to increase farming production. Theoretical support is insufficient. Many rural women still maintain son preference, which has increased fertility and contributed to an imbalanced sex ratio. In 1989 the male/female sex ratio was 113.8:100 compared to the normal ratio of 106:100. Undercounting of female births has accounted for 50% to 75% of the difference between the reported and the expected values. The high sex ratio of births delivered at hospitals is accounted for by prenatal selective screening and sex-selective abortion. A change in son preference ideology could be achieved by promoting the principle of equity between men and women and practicing economic policies that protect the rights of women and children. Regulations prohibiting sex-selective screening prenatally for nonmedical reasons should be enforced. Laws against infanticide and abandonment and neglect of females should be enforced. Family planning should emphasize good counseling and service delivery on a fully voluntary basis. The quality of data collection should be improved. The issues relating to prenatal sex determination should be researched and addressed with appropriate policy. China will continue to undergo rapid population aging. The old age security program currently operating in 700 counties in 29 provinces and involving 6.06% of rural population aged 20-60 years should be expanded universally.

Recovery potential of a western lowland gorilla population following a major Ebola outbreak: results from a ten year study.

PubMed

Genton, Céline; Cristescu, Romane; Gatti, Sylvain; Levréro, Florence; Bigot, Elodie; Caillaud, Damien; Pierre, Jean-Sébastien; Ménard, Nelly

2012-01-01

Investigating the recovery capacity of wildlife populations following demographic crashes is of great interest to ecologists and conservationists. Opportunities to study these aspects are rare due to the difficulty of monitoring populations both before and after a demographic crash. Ebola outbreaks in central Africa have killed up to 95% of the individuals in affected western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) populations. Assessing whether and how fast affected populations recover is essential for the conservation of this critically endangered taxon. The gorilla population visiting Lokoué forest clearing, Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of the Congo, has been monitored before, two years after and six years after Ebola affected it in 2004. This allowed us to describe Ebola's short-term and long-term impacts on the structure of the population. The size of the population, which included around 380 gorillas before the Ebola outbreak, dropped to less than 40 individuals after the outbreak. It then remained stable for six years after the outbreak. However, the demographic structure of this small population has significantly changed. Although several solitary males have disappeared, the immigration of adult females, the formation of new breeding groups, and several birth events suggest that the population is showing potential to recover. During the outbreak, surviving adult and subadult females joined old solitary silverbacks. Those females were subsequently observed joining young silverbacks, forming new breeding groups where they later gave birth. Interestingly, some females were observed joining silverbacks that were unlikely to have sired their infant, but no infanticide was observed. The consequences of the Ebola outbreak on the population structure were different two years and six years after the outbreak. Therefore, our results could be used as demographic indicators to detect and date outbreaks that have happened in other, non-monitored gorilla populations.

Empowering women and health care.

PubMed

Shiva, M

1993-02-01

Women health workers have made great contributions to the health of their community for many years. In India, women physicians have established some hospitals, e.g., Christian Medical Colleges in Ludhiana and Vellore. Some such hospitals operate in remote areas to serve the poor and the suffering. Women health workers of Jamkhed, Deen Bandhu of Pachod, have proved that village women can improve the health status of their community, particularly that of women and children, if they receive encouragement to learn health care skills In India, community health care lies mainly with women (e.g., nursing personnel and in rural areas). Yet, despite their competence and experience, few become physicians, health project directors, and administrators because the society continues to be patriarchal and discriminates against females. Women need to become empowered to ensure equal opportunities for training and promotion and equal wages for equal work. In Bangladesh, use of bicycles to visit houses allows women paramedical workers from Gonasasthya Kendra, Sawar, freedom and imparts confidence. People must identify customs, practices, laws, attitudes, religious misrepresentations, and policies that discriminate against women and then oppose them. They should set these changes in motion at home, in villages, and from district to national, and even global levels. In India, society blames the mother for having a girl, but the man donates the chromosome determining sex. In Gandhigram, a woman physician and her peers have effected an apparent change in attitude toward the birth of a girl. Now the people confer equal happiness to her birth as they do to a boy's birth. Yet, female infanticides still occur in some villages of Salem District of Tamil Nadu. Sex determination tests often lead to abortion of female fetuses. Once a woman marries she has no right to her maternal home and often suffers from domestic violence. Many people resist legislation to grant women more rights, e.g., property rights. Various media promote women's empowerment.

Incidence and biomarkers of pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, and neonatal loss during an environmental stressor: Implications for female reproductive suppression in the cooperatively breeding meerkat.

PubMed

Dimac-Stohl, Kristin A; Davies, Charli S; Grebe, Nicholas M; Stonehill, Alexandra C; Greene, Lydia K; Mitchell, Jessica; Clutton-Brock, Tim; Drea, Christine M

2018-05-02

Meerkats are group-living, insectivorous herpestids in which subordinate members provide extensive care for the dominant female's young. In contrast to some cooperative breeders, subordinate female meerkats are physiologically able to reproduce and occasionally do so successfully; their attempts are more frequently 'suppressed' via eviction or infanticide by the dominant female. Spontaneous abortion and neonatal loss occur with some regularity, further negatively impacting reproductive success. Here, we compared the reproductive outcomes and endocrine profiles, including of serum progesterone (P 4 ), serum estradiol (E 2 ), and fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCm), of dominant and subordinate dams residing within their clans in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa. Our study spanned years of drought, which reduced insect abundance and represented a substantial environmental stressor. Meerkat pregnancies were identified at mid-term and culminated either in spontaneous abortions or full-term deliveries, after which pups were either lost prior to emergence from the natal den (usually within 2days of birth) or emerged at 2-3weeks. Neonatal loss exceeded fetal loss for all females, and contributed to narrowing the status-related disparity in female reproductive output seen during less arid periods. Although E 2 concentrations were significantly lower in subordinate than dominant females, they were sufficient to support gestation. Absolute E 2 concentrations may owe to androgenic precursors that also attain highest concentrations in dominant dams and may mediate aggression underlying female reproductive skew. Pregnancies terminating in fetal loss were marked by significantly lower P 4 concentrations in mid-gestation and modestly lower E 2 concentrations overall. Consistently high fGCm concentrations further increased across trimesters, particularly (but not consistently) in subordinates and in aborted pregnancies. Environmental stressors may modulate reproductive outcomes in meerkats through their influence on sex steroids and their effects on intragroup competition. The social and eco-physiological factors affecting intraspecific variation in reproductive output, even in obligate cooperative breeders, may be most apparent during extreme conditions, reflecting the benefits of long-term studies for assessing the impact of climate change. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Maternal filicide in Japan: analyses of 96 cases and future directions for prevention].

PubMed

Taguchi, Hisako

2007-01-01

Maternal filicide is not an isolated phenomenon. When a mother kills her child, she may be affected by many factors and confronted with different problems based on the child's developmental stage. In this study in Japan, a judicial sample of 96 adult women, convicted in their first trial for the murder or attempted murder of their children, was divided into four groups of mothers according to the age of the victim (25 women killed neonates, 22 women infants, 27 women preschool children, and 22 women schoolchildren and/or teenagers) in order to identify the factors that have a major impact on filicide in each group. The socio-demographic, clinical, forensic, circumstantial, and offense characteristics, and legal disposition of 96 cases drawn from judicial records were compared among the four groups using the Kruskal-Wallis test; comparison of two groups was conducted using the Mann-Whitney test. Neonaticide cases were distinguished from the other three groups by marked differences: a significantly higher rate of unmarried mothers, financial difficulties, absence of mental illness, and admission of not wanting an illegitimate child. In the other groups, mental disorders were frequent; in particular, post-partum depression was the primary cause of infanticide. For the two groups of cases involving a child older than one year, filicidal mothers were more affected by circumstantial factors such as health problems of the child or severe marital discord. These problems may then have caused a reactive mental disorder among these mothers. The risk of fatal abuse or neglect was higher for handicapped preschool children. Filicide-suicide was most frequently seen among school-aged children and/or teenagers who had serious behavioral problems, and these children often had a mental disorder. The classification of maternal filicide by age of the child demonstrated that there are specific issues for each group. Based on these findings, future directions for prevention include: appropriate sex education for youths to avoid unwanted pregnancy; organization of specialized mental health services for mothers with post-partum mental disorder; careful psychiatric risk assessment of mentally ill mothers; and development of diversified social support measures for child-bearing parents, especially those with identifiable financial or social difficulties.

Summit surprises.

PubMed

Myers, N

1994-01-01

A New Delhi Population Summit, organized by the Royal Society, the US National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Science Academy, was convened with representation of 120 (only 10% women) scientists from 50 countries and about 12 disciplines and 43 national scientific academies. Despite the common assumption that scientists never agree, a 3000 word statement was signed by 50 prominent national figures and supported by 25 professional papers on diverse subjects. The statement proclaimed that stable world population and "prodigious planning efforts" are required for dealing with global social, economic, and environmental problems. The target should be zero population growth by the next generation. The statement, although containing many uncompromising assertions, was not as strong as a statement by the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences released last year: that, in the future, science and technology may not be able to prevent "irreversible degradation of the environment and continued poverty," and that the capacity to sustain life on the planet may be permanently jeopardized. The Delhi statement was backed by professional papers highlighting several important issues. Dr Mahmoud Fathalla of the Rockefeller Foundation claimed that the 500,000 annual maternal deaths worldwide, of which perhaps 33% are due to "coathanger" abortions, are given far less attention than a one-day political event of 500 deaths would receive. Although biologically women have been given a greater survival advantage, which is associated with their reproductive capacity, socially disadvantaged females are relegated to low status. There is poorer nutrition and overall health care for females, female infanticide, and female fetuses are increasingly aborted in China, India, and other countries. The sex ratio in developed countries is 95-97 males to every 100 females, but in developing Asian countries the ratio is 105 males to 100 females. There are reports of 60-100 million missing females. The human species 12,000 years ago had a population of 6 million, a life expectancy of 20 years, and a doubling time of 8000 years; high birth rates were important for preservation of the species. Profertility attitudes are still prevalent today. Insufficient funds go to contraceptive research.

Demographic crisis and recovery: a case study of the Xavante of Pimentel Barbosa.

PubMed

Flowers, N

1994-03-01

This case study of the Xavante of Pimentel Barbosa is an example of an Amazonian Indian group that, when exposed to White society, experienced the common history of diseases and social disruption, and then eventually, recovered from the demographic shock, increased fertility, and reduced mortality. Early contact for the Xavante was during the early 18th century in Goias state, Brazil; by the end of the 19th century the Xavante had migrated west into Mato Grosso in isolation. Brazilian government interests (1940s) and a research expeditionary group (1962) resulted in health posts and extensive genetic, epidemiologic, and demographic studies. The results showed good physical and nutritional status, but stress from epidemic disease and social disruption. Conditions had improved by 1976, and the battle was with encroaching ranchers. Strong indian political action led to the securing of boundaries within the Pimentel Barbosa reservation by 1977. The population doubled from 249 in 1977 to 411 in 1988, and increased to 3 villages. There was evidence of a return to more traditional practices. Data collection for this analysis occurred during 1976-77 and 1988 and 1990. Results were provided for recent demographic change, recent births and deaths, factors affecting fertility, fertility change, parity and infant mortality, life expectancy changes, infanticide, population growth, marriage patterns, and health changes. Fertility histories were collected from 71 women in 1971 and 109 women in 1990. Difficulties were encountered due to Xavante differences in enumeration of children. In the comparison of the surveys in 1977 and 1990, there was close correspondence of reported births, and discrepancies of 4-9 births and in age at death. The difficulties encountered were attributed to problems with interpreters. The demographic analysis showed evidence of introduced diseases, which increased infant mortality and threatened population replacement, followed by decreased infant mortality and a large cohort of reproductive age women increasing population growth. The history of this and similar populations is one of a rise and fall in population since colonial times. The seminomadic nature of this group may have saved them from extinction.

Dying like rabbits: general determinants of spatio-temporal variability in survival.

PubMed

Tablado, Zulima; Revilla, Eloy; Palomares, Francisco

2012-01-01

1. Identifying general patterns of how and why survival rates vary across space and time is necessary to truly understand population dynamics of a species. However, this is not an easy task given the complexity and interactions of processes involved, and the interpopulation differences in main survival determinants. 2. Here, using European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as a model and information from local studies, we investigated whether we could make inferences about trends and drivers of survival of a species that are generalizable to large spatio-temporal scales. To do this, we first focused on overall survival and then examined cause-specific mortalities, mainly predation and diseases, which may lead to those patterns. 3. Our results show that within the large-scale variability in rabbit survival, there exist general patterns that are explained by the integration of factors previously known to be important at the local level (i.e. age, climate, diseases, predation or density dependence). We found that both inter- and intrastudy survival rates increased in magnitude and decreased in variability as rabbits grow old, although this tendency was less pronounced in populations with epidemic diseases. Some causes leading to these higher mortalities in young rabbits could be the stronger effect of rainfall at those ages, as well as, other death sources like malnutrition or infanticide. 4. Predation is also greater for newborns and juveniles, especially in population without diseases. Apart from the effect of diseases, predation patterns also depended on factors, such as, density, season, and type and density of predators. Finally, we observed that infectious diseases also showed general relationships with climate, breeding (i.e. new susceptible rabbits) and age, although the association type varied between myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease. 5. In conclusion, large-scale patterns of spatio-temporal variability in rabbit survival emerge from the combination of different factors that interrelate both directly and through density dependence. This highlights the importance of performing more comprehensive studies to reveal combined effects and complex relationships that help us to better understand the mechanisms underlying population dynamics. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2011 British Ecological Society.

Modeling the impacts of hunting on the population dynamics of red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wiederholt, Ruscena; Fernandez-Duque, Eduardo; Diefenbach, Duane R.; Rudran, Rasanayagam

2010-01-01

Overexploitation of wildlife populations occurs across the humid tropics and is a significant threat to the long-term survival of large-bodied primates. To investigate the impacts of hunting on primates and ways to mitigate them, we developed a spatially explicit, individual-based model for a landscape that included hunted and un-hunted areas. We used the large-bodied neotropical red howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus) as our case study species because its life history characteristics make it vulnerable to hunting. We modeled the influence of different rates of harvest and proportions of landscape dedicated to un-hunted reserves on population persistence, population size, social dynamics, and hunting yields of red howler monkeys. In most scenarios, the un-hunted populations maintained a constant density regardless of hunting pressure elsewhere, and allowed the overall population to persist. Therefore, the overall population was quite resilient to extinction; only in scenarios without any un-hunted areas did the population go extinct. However, the total and hunted populations did experience large declines over 100 years under moderate and high hunting pressure. In addition, when reserve area decreased, population losses and losses per unit area increased disproportionately. Furthermore, hunting disrupted the social structure of troops. The number of male turnovers and infanticides increased in hunted populations, while birth rates decreased and exacerbated population losses due to hunting. Finally, our results indicated that when more than 55% of the landscape was harvested at high (30%) rates, hunting yields, as measured by kilograms of biomass, were less than those obtained from moderate harvest rates. Additionally, hunting yields, expressed as the number of individuals hunted/year/km2, increased in proximity to un-hunted areas, and suggested that dispersal from un-hunted areas may have contributed to hunting sustainability. These results indicate that un-hunted areas serve to enhance hunting yields, population size, and population persistence in hunted landscapes. Therefore, spatial regulation of hunting via a reserve system may be an effective management strategy for sustainable hunting, and we recommend it because it may also be more feasible to implement than harvest quotas or restrictions on season length.

Involuntary euthanasia of severely ill newborns: is the Groningen Protocol really dangerous?

PubMed Central

Voultsos, P; Chatzinikolaou, F

2014-01-01

Advances in medicine can reduce active euthanasia of newborns with severe anomalies or unusual prematurity, but they cannot eliminate it. In the Netherlands, voluntary active euthanasia among adults and adolescents has been allowed since 2002, when the so-called Groningen Protocol (GP) was formulated as an extension of the law on extremely premature and severely ill newborns. It is maintained that, at bioethical level, it serves the principle of beneficence. Other European countries do not accept the GP, including Belgium. Admissibility of active euthanasia is a necessary, though inadequate, condition for acceptance of the GP. Greece generally prohibits euthanasia, although the legal doctrine considers some of the forms of euthanasia permissible, but not active or involuntary euthanasia. The wide acceptance of passive newborns euthanasia, especially when the gestational age of the newborns is 22-25 weeks ("grey zone"), admissibility of practices within the limits between active and passive euthanasia (e.g., withholding/withdrawing), of "indirect active euthanasia" and abortion of the late fetus, the tendency to accept after-birth-abortion (infanticide) in the bioethical theory, the lower threshold for application of withdrawing in neonatal intensive care units compared with pediatric intensive care units, all the above advocate wider acceptance of the GP. However, the GP paves the way for a wide application of involuntary (or pseudo-voluntary) euthanasia (slippery slope) and contains some ambiguous concepts and requirements (e.g., "unbearable suffering"). It is suggested that the approach to the sensitive and controversial ethical dilemmas concerning the severely ill newborns is done not through the GP, but rather, through a combination of virtue bioethics (especially in the countries of the so-called "Mediterranean bioethical zone") and of the principles of principlism which is enriched, however, with the "principle of mutuality" (enhancement of all values and principles, especially with the principles of "beneficence" and "justice"), in order to achieve the "maximal" bioethical approach, along with the establishment of circumstances and alternatives that minimize or eliminate the relevant bioethical dilemmas and conflicts between the fundamental principles. Thus, the most appropriate/fairest choices are made (by trained parents and physicians), considering all interests involved as much as possible. Hippokratia 2014; 18 (3): 196-203. PMID:25694750

Involuntary euthanasia of severely ill newborns: is the Groningen Protocol really dangerous?

PubMed

Voultsos, P; Chatzinikolaou, F

2014-01-01

Advances in medicine can reduce active euthanasia of newborns with severe anomalies or unusual prematurity, but they cannot eliminate it. In the Netherlands, voluntary active euthanasia among adults and adolescents has been allowed since 2002, when the so-called Groningen Protocol (GP) was formulated as an extension of the law on extremely premature and severely ill newborns. It is maintained that, at bioethical level, it serves the principle of beneficence. Other European countries do not accept the GP, including Belgium. Admissibility of active euthanasia is a necessary, though inadequate, condition for acceptance of the GP. Greece generally prohibits euthanasia, although the legal doctrine considers some of the forms of euthanasia permissible, but not active or involuntary euthanasia. The wide acceptance of passive newborns euthanasia, especially when the gestational age of the newborns is 22-25 weeks ("grey zone"), admissibility of practices within the limits between active and passive euthanasia (e.g., withholding/withdrawing), of "indirect active euthanasia" and abortion of the late fetus, the tendency to accept after-birth-abortion (infanticide) in the bioethical theory, the lower threshold for application of withdrawing in neonatal intensive care units compared with pediatric intensive care units, all the above advocate wider acceptance of the GP. However, the GP paves the way for a wide application of involuntary (or pseudo-voluntary) euthanasia (slippery slope) and contains some ambiguous concepts and requirements (e.g., "unbearable suffering"). It is suggested that the approach to the sensitive and controversial ethical dilemmas concerning the severely ill newborns is done not through the GP, but rather, through a combination of virtue bioethics (especially in the countries of the so-called "Mediterranean bioethical zone") and of the principles of principlism which is enriched, however, with the "principle of mutuality" (enhancement of all values and principles, especially with the principles of "beneficence" and "justice"), in order to achieve the "maximal" bioethical approach, along with the establishment of circumstances and alternatives that minimize or eliminate the relevant bioethical dilemmas and conflicts between the fundamental principles. Thus, the most appropriate/fairest choices are made (by trained parents and physicians), considering all interests involved as much as possible. Hippokratia 2014; 18 (3): 196-203.

Honorable son might be a girl: social effects of China's one-child policy.

PubMed

Wu, D Y

1984-01-01

The population growth of China continues to outpace economic production despite a tremendous decrease in fertility rates in the last decade. The dual goals of modernization and population control now hinge on the success of the government's policy of 1-child families. Limiting couples to 1 child appears to be a simple and effective way of achieving the goal of 1.2 billion population by 2020, but closer examination suggests that success in population control could mean social and cultural problems. Is the "onyl child" raised radically different from the child who grows up with siblings? The predominant view is that child rearinfg in China has become too soft. Based on equal parts of observation abd speculation, the prevailing wisdom contends that the only child runs the risk of becoming a self-centered, demanding, uncooperative, and materialistic adult who lacks self-discipline and has no interest in serving others. Single children appear to have more "bad habits", yet preliminary testing in a few kindergartens shows them to faster learners and intellectually moe mature. By directing their resources and attention on 1 child, parents are better able to provide better nutrition and living conditions. Yet, concentrated parental expectations and pressure to succeed may result in mental health complications for the only child. To counteract the effects of 1-child families and their fostering of individualism, institutional child rearing at the nursery and kindergarten levels is emphasized. However, parents seeing their child only 1 day a week, may overcompensate for the time of separation, teaching the child a double standard concerning school values vs. home values. Future residential arrangements for elderly parents and grandparents will create problems for the only child. Another prevailing problem is the traditional Chinese preference for male children, particularly in rural areas. Discrimination against females has become a serious problem in the countryside, and infanticide of girl babies has been reported in several villages. This causes an imbalance in the male/female ratio that is so prominent in some areas that the number of potential brides is of serious concern.

Using experimentation to understand the 10-year snowshoe hare cycle in the boreal forest of North America.

PubMed

Krebs, Charles J; Boonstra, Rudy; Boutin, Stan

2018-01-01

Population cycles have long fascinated ecologists from the time of Charles Elton in the 1920s. The discovery of large population fluctuations in undisturbed ecosystems challenged the idea that pristine nature was in a state of balance. The 10-year cycle of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus Erxleben) across the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska is a classic cycle, recognized by fur traders for more than 300 years. Since the 1930s, ecologists have investigated the mechanisms that might cause these cycles. Proposed causal mechanisms have varied from sunspots to food supplies, parasites, diseases, predation and social behaviour. Both the birth rate and the death rate change dramatically over the cycle. Social behaviour was eliminated as a possible cause because snowshoe hares are not territorial and do not commit infanticide. Since the 1960s, large-scale manipulative experiments have been used to discover the major limiting factors. Food supply and predation quickly became recognized as potential key factors causing the cycle. Experiments adding food and restricting predator access to field populations have been decisive in pinpointing predation as the key mechanism causing these fluctuations. The immediate cause of death of most snowshoe hares is predation by a variety of predators, including the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis Kerr). The collapse in the reproductive rate is not due to food shortage as was originally thought, but is a result of chronic stress from predator chases. Five major issues remain unresolved. First, what is the nature of the predator-induced memory that results in the prolonged low phase of the cycle? Second, why do hare cycles form a travelling wave, starting in the centre of the boreal forest in Saskatchewan and travelling across western Canada and Alaska? Third, why does the amplitude of the cycle vary greatly from one cycle to the next in the same area? Fourth, do the same mechanisms of population limitation apply to snowshoe hares in eastern North American or in similar ecosystems across Siberia? Finally, what effect will climatic warming have on all the above issues? The answers to these questions remain for future generations of biologists to determine. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2017 British Ecological Society.

[The one-child policy in China].

PubMed

Botton Beja, F; Cornejo Bustamante, R

1989-01-01

Although the government of the People's Republic of China manifested sporadic concern about the nation's rapid population growth beginning at the time of the 1953 national census, it was not until the 1970s that a small family with a maximum of 2 children began to be promoted through a national campaign of education and persuasion. With the subsequent advent of the 1-child policy in 1979, the family planning campaign became a campaign for population planning in which the government no longer limited itself to contraceptive education and distribution, but began to intervene in human reproduction to accomodate it to material production. China's population policy, despite setbacks and delays, has had notable results. No other predominantly peasant society has achieved such a significant fertility decline in such a short time, but the price has been high. The problems have included confrontation with ancient cultural traditions, interference of the government in the most intimate aspects of family life, the sacrifice of a natural desire for children, evasion of marriage and birth registration, and even female infanticide. The incentives and sanctions for the 1-child policy have been primarily economic in nature, but widespread coercion and abuse have been reported. Although China's fertility has declined steadily since 1971, the fall was considerably greater in the cities, where the expense of children and critical housing shortages have effectively discouraged childbearing. In the countryside the dismantling of the communes and substitution of a system of family responsibility for agricultural production have had a strong pronatalist effect, reinforcing the desire for children as a means of old age security. The costs of children in rural areas are insignificant compared to the cities, housing is less crowded, and fertility sanctions are harder to enforce. Rural discontent and resistence to government family planning policy nevertheless became so acute that it was probably a factor in the 1984 relaxation of the 1-child policy in certain rural areas. Despite considerable success, the Chinese government has not met its family planning goals. 32.3 million couples, or 18% of fertile-aged couples, have expressed willingness to have only 1 child. The 32.3 million include 36% of urban and 11% of rural couples. According to a July 1988 fertility survey, the crude birth rate dropped to 8.84/1000, but the rates of early marriage and adolescent pregnancy were increasing. A major problem in the next 5 years will be the arrival at marriageable age of the large cohorts born around the time of the Cultural Revolution.

Social systems and life-history characteristics of mongooses.

PubMed

Schneider, Tilman C; Kappeler, Peter M

2014-02-01

The diversity of extant carnivores provides valuable opportunities for comparative research to illuminate general patterns of mammalian social evolution. Recent field studies on mongooses (Herpestidae), in particular, have generated detailed behavioural and demographic data allowing tests of assumptions and predictions of theories of social evolution. The first studies of the social systems of their closest relatives, the Malagasy Eupleridae, also have been initiated. The literature on mongooses was last reviewed over 25 years ago. In this review, we summarise the current state of knowledge on the social organisation, mating systems and social structure (especially competition and cooperation) of the two mongoose families. Our second aim is to evaluate the contributions of these studies to a better understanding of mammalian social evolution in general. Based on published reports or anecdotal information, we can classify 16 of the 34 species of Herpestidae as solitary and nine as group-living; there are insufficient data available for the remainder. There is a strong phylogenetic signal of sociality with permanent complex groups being limited to the genera Crossarchus, Helogale, Liberiictis, Mungos, and Suricata. Our review also indicates that studies of solitary and social mongooses have been conducted within different theoretical frameworks: whereas solitary species and transitions to gregariousness have been mainly investigated in relation to ecological determinants, the study of social patterns of highly social mongooses has instead been based on reproductive skew theory. In some group-living species, group size and composition were found to determine reproductive competition and cooperative breeding through group augmentation. Infanticide risk and inbreeding avoidance connect social organisation and social structure with reproductive tactics and life histories, but their specific impact on mongoose sociality is still difficult to evaluate. However, the level of reproductive skew in social mongooses is not only determined by the costs and benefits of suppressing each other's breeding attempts, but also influenced by resource abundance. Thus, dispersal, as a consequence of eviction, is also linked to the costs of co-breeding in the context of food competition. By linking these facts, we show that the socio-ecological model and reproductive skew theory share some determinants of social patterns. We also conclude that due to their long bio-geographical isolation and divergent selection pressures, future studies of the social systems of the Eupleridae will be of great value for the elucidation of general patterns in carnivore social evolution. © 2013 The Authors. Biological Reviews © 2013 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Family planning and protection of human rights.

PubMed

1991-12-01

The discussion of human rights in China is based on the White Paper issued by the Information Office under the State Council on November 1, 1991. China is the most populous country in the world at 1.14 billion in 1990. Annual increases of 17 million are expected even with family planning (FP). The area of cultivated land/capita has dropped to 1.3 mu (16.5% of an acre)/capita, or 25% of the world average. Fresh water resources have also dropped similarly. The amount of grain.person is 22% of that in the US. 25% of additional income to the national income is consumed by newborns annually. Savings have been cut and reinvestment in economic development has been slowed. There are pressures on all social and economic systems. There is acknowledged success in FP. The birth rate has dropped to 21.06.1000 in 1990, the rate of natural increase to 14.39%/1000, and the fertility rate to 2.31. These figures are lower than the averages for other developing countries. The FP policy is to promote deferred marriage and childbearing, fewer but healthier births, and 1 child/couple. Rural families who are having difficulties may after an interval of several years have a 2nd child. Minority nationalities are being encouraged to adopt FP voluntarily. Han requirements are different. The policy has been understood and supported by the masses and has contributed to the drop in 3rd and higher parity births to 19.32% in 1989 from 62.21% in 1970. The government role is one of guidance and persuasion within the law, and cannot be accomplished by administrative decrees alone. The government has given priority to enlightening the masses through publicity and education that birth control has a direct impact on the nation's prosperity and people's happy family life. The China FP Association has set up 600,000 grass roots branches with 32 million members to assist in aiding the masses in self-education, self-management, and self-service. Ideological education has been combined with helping the masses solve practical problems. FP identifies contraception as protection of maternal and child health. 75% of couples of childbearing age practice contraception. Coercive abortions are resolutely opposed. Induced abortion in cases of contraceptive failure are voluntary and safe. The abortion ratio is comparable to world rates, but lower rates are targeted. Policy objectives are to control population growth and improve the quality of human resources. Maternal and child health care is provided. Law forbids infanticide. Policy conforms to item 9 of the UN Mexico City Declaration on Population and Development, 1984, and the UN World Population Plan of Action.

[Contribution to the study of pregnancy, abortion and childbirth among the coastal Mataco Indians].

PubMed

Idoyaga Molina, A

1979-01-01

The native concepts of conception, pregnancy, abortion, and childbirth of the Mataco Indians of the Pilcomayo River in Argentina are described. The Mataco view the man as playing the more active role in conception through contribution of seminal fluid, while the woman's uterus is more of a passive receptacle for accumulation of sperm. The embryo develops in a bag which the woman expels shortly after delivery. The number of children is believed to correspond to the number of bags a woman has. The possibility of reproduction for the Mataco is believed to result from actions of Tokjuaj, the central character in an extensive narrative cycle, in the earliest times. Tokjuaj showed the primitive human beings how to have coitus, supplied men with semen, and removed teeth around the vagina that prevented sexual contact. Sterility is always viewed as a feminine shortcoming, although not hopeless since the therapy of a shaman may cure it. The Mataco attribute sterility to the lack of the container in which the embryo develops with successive deposits of seminal fluid. Sterility is just 1 of the diseases believed to result from malevolent intentions of the supernatural. The shaman cures it by interceding with the spirit who caused it, and the woman responds with a payment. The shaman sucks and blows on the affected part to remove the illness and construct a new bag to hold the embryo. Pregnancy can result within a month. The parents must copulate frequently during the first part of pregnancy so that the embryo can develop. The embryo has a soul from the time it arrives in the mother's body. It is able to move because it has a soul. The Mataco appear to have a mythical rather than a physiological vision of pregnancy, although they recognize that the suspension of menstruation can signal pregnancy. Fathers are obliged to observe various prescriptions, primarily regarding dietary taboos, to avoid harming the future child. Sexual relations are discontinued in the later part of the Pregnancy to avoid conceiving another child, twins being subject to infanticide. Abortion is common among the Mataco, particularly among single women and those abandoned by their husbands. Mechanical means are used to induce abortion in the last months of pregnancy. Births are assisted by 1 or more midwives. The list of prescriptions for fathers multiplies at the time of delivery. Any accident during delivery is understood to result from violation of 1 or more of the norms surrounding pregnancy and delivery. For the Mataco, the possibility of conceiving a child, the desire to seek an abortion, or a successful delivery do not depend on the individual's will but on a combination of human intentions and those of the ruling spirits.

Reproductive success of farmed blue foxes.

PubMed

Ilukha, V A; Harri, M; Rekilä, T

1997-01-12

The aim of this study was to provide basic data for the different components of reproductive performance of blue foxes under farm conditions. The foxes were mated naturally and the perinatal mortality of cubs was carefully recorded. This data allowed the evaluation of the effect of females' age and differences between years, and the maternal and paternal components of reproductive success. Generally the results were similar for all four years of the study. Altogether 2047 females (84.8 % of the total) gave birth to 22 941 cubs, of which 5.9% were stillborn and 11.4% died before weaning. Only in a very few cases (1.3%) was it the whole litter that was lost, and more commonly, there were some cub losses in almost one-half of the litters (46.9%). Abnormal birth and abortion of a part of a litter contributed most to reproductive failure of the vixen. Infanticide played a minimal role as a cause of postnatal cub mortality (0.3%). Death of the vixen was extremely rare. One half of all parturitions were dated between May 14 and May 28 and May 8 and May 20, for primiparous and multiparous vixens, respectively. Thus the parturitions peaked 5 days earlier (p < 0.001, median test) for multiparous vixens. The litter size was smaller and cub losses were higher for primiparous vixens than for multiparous ones. With a few exceptions, the age of the father or date of birth did not affect litter size or cub mortality. Postnatal cub mortality (y, %) decreased with age of the cub (x, days) and can be described by a simple equation: y = 15.3 - 11.2 log x, r(2) = 0.933. Fractional cub mortality increased with increasing litter size. Despite being significant, this increase was modest in extent. Low h(2) -values were observed for litter size at birth. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Der Zweck dieser Untersuchung war es, Basisinformation über verschiedene Komponenten der Reproduktion bei farmgezüchteten Blaufüchsen zu gewinnen. Die Fähen wurden naturlich gepaart. Eine besondere Aufmerksamkeit wurde der perinatalen Jungsterblichkeit gewidmet. Im allgemeinen waren die Ergebnisse für alle vier Jahre der Untersuchung gleich. Insgesamt 2 047 Fähen (84.8% von) warfen 22 941 Jungen. Von diesen wurden 5.6% totgeboren, und 11.4% starben später. Nur sehr selten war der ganze Wurf verloren (1.3%), aber Verluste fanden fast in der Hälfte der Würfe (46.9%) statt. Abnormale Geburt und Abort waren die häufigsten Ursachen der Geburtsprobleme der Fähen. Nur sehr selten brachte die Fähe ihre Jungen um (0.3%). Ebenso selten war ein Tod der Fähe. Eine Hälfte der Geburten fanden zwischen 14 und 28 Mai, bei Jungfähen und zwischen 8 und 20 Mai bei älteren statt. Die Jungfähen hatten kleinere Würfe und höhere Jungverluste als die Altfähen, wobei die Rüden fast keinen Einfluß hatten. Die postnatale Jungsterblichkeit (y, %) nahm mit Alter der Jungen (x, Tage) rasch ab, und kann mit einer einfachen Gleichung dargestellt werden: y = 15.3 - 11.2 log x, r(2) = 0.933. Jungsterblichkeit nahm mit der Grösse des Wurfes zu. Diese Wirkung war statistisch significant, zwar klein in Quantität. Die Heritabilitätswerte (h(2) ) der Wurfgrösse waren klein. 1997 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

[Development of forensic thanatology through the prism of analysis of postmortem protocols collected at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Jagiellonian University].

PubMed

Konopka, Tomasz

2011-01-01

When assessed based on the analysis of postmortem protocols, the successes of forensic thanatology appear to differ from those that might be assumed using as the foundation a review of publications and textbooks. The greatest achievements date back to as early as the 18th and 19th centuries, when the morphological changes observed in the majority of types of deaths resulting from disease-associated and traumatic causes were described. Within the past 130 years, however, or in other words, in the period when autopsy protocols were written that are today collected in the archives of the Krakow Department of Forensic Medicine, the causes and mechanisms of death became understood even when the said factors were associated with discrete postmortem changes only or no no such changes whatsoever were left. At the end of the 19th century and for a long time afterwards, a difficult problem was posed by sudden deaths, where the postmortem examinations demonstrated solely atherosclerosis and the cause of death was described as "heart palsy". As it turned out, a great portion of such deaths represented individuals with myocardial infarction; in spite of its evident macroscopic presentation, the diagnostic management of the disease was progressing very slowly. Myocardial infarction, known at least since 1912, was associated by forensic medicine with the phenomenon of sudden death only in the forties, and the ability to detect myocardial infarction in practice developed only in the fifties of the last century. The achievement of the present dissertation is the formulation of a theory ascribing such a long delay in macroscopic diagnostics of myocardial infarction to forensic medicine specialists being attached to and fond of employing the "in situ" autopsy technique, which was unfavorable from the viewpoint of heart examination, since the organ was not dissected free and removed from the body in the course of a postmortem examination. When autopsies started to concentrate on hearts dissected free from large vessels, within several years, the number of diagnosed myocardial infarctions increased several times, what gave rise to a theory of a myocardial infarction epidemics formulated in some centers. A proof supporting the theory postulated by the author is a sudden increase in the number of deaths resulting from pulmonary embolism observed in the same several-year period; this diagnosis was also not facilitated by the "in situ" autopsy technique. Another cause of death, which - although undoubtedly common - was for years interpreted as "heart palsy" was alcohol poisoning. Evolution of methods used in chemical examinations for the presence of alcohol, and especially the use of blood tests rather than gastric contents tests allowed in time for determining alcohol poisoning as the cause of death and demonstrated the true extent of the phenomenon. Here, a milestone was the introduction of the Widmark method, what in turn resulted in changes in the toxicology theory, such as for example the use of a new term of "lethal concentration" in addition to the formerly employed notion of a "lethal dose", which is useless in the case of alcohol. Of lesser importance with respect to the number of cases, but of much greater significance in view of its association with homicides were the achievements in diagnostic management of strangulation. Choking and strangulation, as well as hanging--in spite of the fact that their fundamental features were known as early as in the 19th century--were really understood and the ability to diagnose these phenomena was achieved only in the interwar period. Such a long delay resulted from the autopsy technique that did not include examination of the organs situated in the neck, as well as from difficulties in acquiring experience in examining the type of homicide that was very uncommon. On the other hand, for many years, the erroneous theory of the fluidity of blood in a corpse as an indicator of violent strangulation resulted in dubious opinions on strangling by blocking the respiratory orifices of the victim, especially in cases of infanticides. Another erroneous theory, which was obligatory in forensic thanatology, was the theory of thymolymphatic state, which used thymic hypertrophy to explain deaths of young individuals resulting from a small injury or even strong emotion. Statistical tests and development of general medicine allowed for disproving the theory. In the diagnostics management of death from hypothermia, despite the fact that its most important features--Wischnewski spots and the loss of liver glycogen--had been known for a long time, they were regarded useless for several score years. At this time, cases of death from hypothermia were included into the category of "heart palsy". Despite several changes of the authorities, a review of autopsy protocols prepared in the Krakow Department of Forensic Medicine provided the author with a wealth of information of significant historical value. Protocols dating back to the period of Nazi occupation allowed for documenting and analyzing the types of torture employed by the Gestapo, but also for discovering a surprisingly large number of postmortem examinations of bodies of occupation functionaries who were sentenced to death by the Polish Underground State. After World War II, the Department examined numerous victims originating from both sides of skirmishes fought at the time by the then authorities and the armed underground movement, or even individuals murdered in the course of interrogations. The archives of autopsy protocols became a valuable source helpful in estimating the number of victims of the Soviet Army that was stationed in Poland, and later provided the only supply of information needed for evaluation of the number of fatal accidents among the builders of the Krakow district of Nowa Huta. Based on the autopsy protocols it may be concluded that the number of victims of anti-Jewish riots that sparked off in Krakow soon after World War II was over, was most likely lower than that assessed by the historians; on the other hand, the number of victims of similar riots occurring after World War I was higher than the historians believed. A great span of time over which the protocols were written allowed for following some socioeconomic changes. In the period before Poland's regaining independence, a significant social problem was posed by deaths of infants entrusted to foster care to "angel makers" After independence was regained, a similar problem emerged, consisting of deaths of young females due to complications of illegal abortions. In the post-war period, such a social problem was found in deaths due to fatal alcohol poisoning; the annual number of such cases increased almost tenfold within the past 50 years. In addition to obvious cases associated with the war, the Nazi occupation was characterized by a sudden, manifold increase in the number of methanol poisonings and an unexpectedly high increase in the number of victims of fatal traffic road accidents, especially those involving trains and streetcars. Over the past 130 years, there were significant changes in the selection of poisons used for suicidal purposes. In the beginning of the analyzed period, suicides were committed by ingesting caustic substances that damaged parenchymatous organs--these poisons were very brutal in their action, but easy to detect. As new pharmaceuticals--central nervous system depressants--were being introduced to therapeutic management, they gradually replaced caustic and parenchymatous poisons. In contrast to the early phase of the analyzed period, poisoning with such medications cannot be detected on autopsy, yet their introduction promoted the development of forensic toxicology. Nevertheless, for several score years, the heaviest toll was taken by carbon monoxide from the municipal gasworks, which appeared in 1905 and disappeared in 1982, killing as many as in excess of 50 individuals per year. In the collection of more than 60 thousand autopsy protocols, the author managed to find hitherto unknown, interesting cases, e.g. that describing a victim of a fatal accident in a stone quarry, witnessed by Karol Wojtyła during WWII, a victim of an unknown assassination attempt on the life of Bolesław Bierut, as well as protocols of postmortem examinations of bodies of the People's Republic of Poland intelligence agents who died while posted abroad.