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Snub-nosed monkey mums are picky when choosing a babysitter, permitting experienced females to care for their infants more often than young and inexperienced ones.

Many primates rely on the help of others when raising their offspring. This can provide the mother with some respite while also allowing younger and less experienced individuals to hone their parenting skills.

Now, an accidental discovery by at the Southwest Forestry University in China and her colleagues has revealed that a group of (Rhinopithecus bieti) in the Baimaxueshan National Nature Reserve in southern China also share caregiving.

鈥淒uring the breeding season, we noticed newborns being passed around for grooming, carrying and even nursing by non-maternal individuals,鈥� says Cui. 鈥淭his reminded us of similar roles in human society, like babysitters, and sparked our curiosity.鈥�

The researchers followed the group of monkeys every day for six months during the birth season, recording 416 instances in which a female interacted with a mother and her newborn, such as grooming them or gently pulling the infant closer. The researchers also noted the age and reproductive experience of the female, how the mother responded to her and how many times the infant was passed around.

They found that mothers were more permissive of caregiving attempts by females who already had multiple offspring of their own, and were more willing to accept this help as their infant got older.

However, young and inexperienced females still got their turn to care for the infant, typically after a more experienced monkey finished her initial babysitting duties. Cui says that these caregiving opportunities seem to be useful chances to learn and prepare for their future parenting roles. More research is needed to understand if this pattern of infant transfer may vary depending on social rank or kinship, she adds.

But at the University of Montreal in Canada says it is hard to know which behaviours signal an intention to handle an infant and which are just an interaction with a mother. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know for sure if they鈥檙e going through a decision-making process,鈥� she says.