Maternal ranging strategies facilitate offspring social play at energetic cost in the most solitary ape.

Maternal ranging adjustments in orangutans increase offspring social play by 15% at an energetic cost to mothers.

• Why it matters: Understanding how solitary species facilitate social development is crucial, as social play is vital for behavioral growth but is rare in solitary animals, raising questions about maternal strategies.
• What they did: Using 15 years of behavioral and movement data from 31 wild mother-offspring pairs, the study examined how mothers alter ranging behavior to promote peer interactions, analyzing spatial overlap and travel patterns.
• The result: Mothers actively plan and pursue offspring social encounters, incurring higher travel distances and reduced feeding, revealing a significant maternal investment in offspring social development despite energetic costs.